SYDNEY – Australia has experienced a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
From then to October 2024, there were more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in the country, according to the latest figures from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
The Australian government in August said at least two incidents in Sydney and Melbourne in late 2024 were directed by the Iranian government. Australia said it would expel the Iranian ambassador in response.
Here are some key events:
May 25, 2024: Australia’s largest Jewish school graffitied in Melbourne.
Oct 13: Antisemitic graffiti on Jewish bakery in Sydney, with note left for owner reading “be careful”.
Oct 17: Front door of Bondi brewery Curly Lewis Brewing Company in Sydney torched.
Oct 20: Neighbouring Bondi Kosher deli Lewis’ Continental Kitchen set alight.
A taskforce investigating antisemitic attacks charges a former biker gang member in March over allegedly directing two men to torch Curly Lewis Brewing Company and Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in order to distract police resources. He denied the charges and was released on bail.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later says information from the national intelligence agency showed the Iranian government was behind the arson attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen.
Nov 21: Cars torched, buildings vandalised in Sydney’s east, an area with a large Jewish population.
Dec 6: Adass Israel Synagogue torched in Melbourne’s south, treated by police as a suspected terror attack. The Victorian state counter-terrorism taskforce in August 2025 charges two men over the attack. Days later, Albanese announces the incident was also directed by the Iranian government.
Dec 7: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says antisemitic attacks in Australia linked to the government’s position at the United Nations on Palestine.
Dec 9: Federal Police Task Force on Antisemitism launched.
Dec 11: Cars torched, buildings vandalised in Sydney’s east.
Jan 7, 2025: Man charged after allegedly threatening worshippers near the Chabad North Shore synagogue in Sydney’s north.
Jan 10: Allawah Synagogue in Sydney’s south graffitied with swastikas.
Jan 11: Graffiti and attempted arson of the Newtown Synagogue in Sydney’s west. New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns calls the attack an escalation in antisemitic crime. Cars and a house vandalised with antisemitic graffiti in Sydney’s west.
Jan 16: Federal antisemitism task force makes first arrest, charging a Sydney man over alleged death threats and vandalism.
Jan 17: Cars torched, building formerly owned by a Jewish community leader vandalised in Sydney’s east.
Jan 19: Minns announces laws to strengthen hate speech protections and ban protests outside places of worship.
Jan 21: Childcare centre set alight and graffitied in Sydney’s east. Police charge woman over December 11 attack. Albanese announces a national cabinet meeting in response to the escalation of antisemitism.
Jan 29: New South Wales state police say they found a caravan, or trailer, filled with explosives in Sydney’s northwest. The authorities would later say this was a fake plan by an organised crime network to attack a Sydney synagogue, a move meant to divert police resources.
Feb 12: Two nurses in a Sydney hospital are suspended from work for threatening to kill Jewish patients and refusing to treat them in a video on TikTok, triggering an investigation by police, authorities said.
July 4: Twenty worshippers at a Sabbath dinner at the East Melbourne Synagogue flee a fire that police describe as arson. A man is arrested and charged with various offences, as the authorities investigate whether the incident was linked to a disturbance the same night at an Israeli restaurant in the city. REUTERS
