Just days after Israel agreed to a hostages-for-terrorists deal and implemented a Gaza ceasefire, a daycare center was set on fire in an antisemitic attack in Sydney, Australia.
“The childcare centre set alight in Sydney on Tuesday after being sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti is the eighth such anti-Semitic attack in the past three months,” Australian public broadcaster ABC reported. “The building is a short distance from the Maroubra Synagogue.” The building was empty at the time of the attack and no injuries were reported.
The daycare center was in an area associated with the Jewish community, and the attackers left no doubt about their motives. “The words ‘Fuck the Jews’ were spray-painted on an external wall of the centre, which does not have religious affiliations but is close to both the Maroubra Synagogue and the Mount Sinai college,” UK’s Guardian newspaper reported.
The news agency Reuters reported the details of the attack:
A childcare centre in Sydney was set alight early morning on Tuesday and antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on the wall, authorities said, the latest in a spate of attacks in Australia targeting the Jewish community.The childcare centre, located near a Jewish school and synagogue in the city’s east, suffered extensive damage but there were no reports of injuries in the attack which occurred around 1 a.m. (1400 GMT, Monday), police said.It was the second antisemitic attack on property in four days in Sydney, and comes amid a spate of similar crimes targeting the Jewish community in Australia’s most-populous city. (…)Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the latest attack as “a vicious crime.”Albanese is facing a national election due by May and antisemitism is shaping as a key issue, with the opposition criticising him as “weak” for not doing enough to prevent hate crimes against Jews.
This is not the first attack of its kind. In early December, masked attackers firebombed the country’s largest synagogue in the city of Melbourne while the worshipers were offering morning prayers. The fire destroyed priceless handwritten Torah scrolls and caused millions of dollars of damage.
Australia has seen a sharp surge in antisemitic attacks since the October 7 massacre. “Police said 181 people had been arrested under Operation Shelter since October 2023, resulting in 456 charges. Of the 181 people, 36 were charged with antisemitism-related offences, including eight people charged under Strike Force Pearl with 59 offences,” the Guardia noted.
With Australia’s fast-growing Muslim population, the country has witnessed a spike in Antisemitism. Since October 7, 2023, there has been a wave of anti-Israel demonstrations nationwide.
Two days after the October 7 massacre, Hamas supporters in Sydney were heard chanting ‘Gas the Jews’ outside the city’s landmark Opera House. Australian university campuses have allowed student demonstrations calling for Intifada, a reference to Palestinian terror campaigns against Jews and Israelis in the early 1990s and early 2000s.
Despite a ceasefire, protesters vowed to continue anti-Israel demonstrations across the country. “Large crowds have gathered at pro-Palestine demonstrations in cities across Australia mere hours before a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was due to come into effect,” the broadcaster ABC reported Sunday. “Many of the protesters say that now-delayed deal does not go far enough and some say they have no plans to end their weekly rallies.”
According to Australian police, the recent wave of antisemitic violence could have been financed by unnamed foreign players. Iran and Qatar have been accused of funding antisemitic activists and outfits in the U.S. and Europe.
“Federal police are investigating if antisemitic attacks in Australia are being funded by “overseas actors” paying local criminals, sometimes in cryptocurrency,” Australia’s Nine News TV network revealed Tuesday. “The Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw revealed tonight that officers suspect there could be overseas interference driving some of the antisemitic crime in Australia.”
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