Australian police reported incidents of antisemitic graffiti in the two major cities of Sydney and Perth on Sunday, the latest in a string of incidents targeting Jews in the country.
The spate of attacks in recent months has alarmed the country’s Jewish community, drawn criticism from Israel and placed pressure on the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who faces reelection in polls that must be held by May.
Albanese, previously criticized by the conservative opposition coalition as weak for failing to prevent hate crimes against Jews, has repeatedly condemned antisemitism, saying there is no place for it in Australia’s “tolerant multicultural community.”
Police said Sunday that vehicles and residences were damaged overnight with antisemitic graffiti in Sydney’s eastern district, an area with a significant Jewish community.
“Crime scenes have been established,” police said in a statement, a day after they doubled to 40 the number of officers in a special task force set up in December to target antisemitic crime in the country’s most populous state of New South Wales.
David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said that in the attack “cars and homes were defaced with hate speech for the sole purpose of intimidating and terrorizing the Jewish community and destabilizing Sydney’s social harmony.”
Another bad night in Sydney. More antisemitic vandalism in Kingsford and a petrol can found in a vehicle in Rose Bay after a police pursuit. Further evidence of a situation out of control. pic.twitter.com/bVTIFw8f3O
— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) February 1, 2025
In addition to the antisemitic vandalism in Sydney, a home in Perth on the other edge of Australia was similarly targeted with anti-Jewish graffiti and a swastika, according to local media.
Western Australia police said they were investigating the incident, in which the wall outside a home in the neighborhood of Dalkeith was daubed with the Nazi symbol and the words “Fuck Jews.”
Western Australia police said in a statement: “There is no place for this kind of behavior in our community and we will not tolerate crimes that undermine our way of life in Western Australia.”
Dalkeith, Perth this morning
There have been attacks in 3 states today.
It’s clear that the Federal Government has lost control. pic.twitter.com/1bq1oWjaR4
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) February 2, 2025
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook reacted by stressing the need to “stop this right-wing, white supremacist language where it starts in social media. We want to stop everyone from actually following these insidious, cowardly, nasty people, and it’s up for all of us to do our bit to condemn it.”
Sunday’s incidents of anti-Jewish vandalism were the latest in a particularly eventful week in terms of hate crimes against Australia’s Jews.
On Thursday, antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on three sites including Mount Sinai College in Sydney’s east, one of almost a dozen incidents in the city of around 5 million in recent months that police say appeared to be coordinated.
Police said on Wednesday they found explosives in a caravan, or trailer, in Sydney that could have created a blast wave of 40 meters (130 feet), and may have been intended for a mass casualty attack on Jews.
Antisemitic graffiti daubed on a Sydney synagogue, January 10, 2025 (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Australia has seen a surge in antisemitic actions since the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
The number of anti-Jewish incidents in Australia quadrupled in the year after the terror assault in southern Israel, according to data from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
These have included several arson attacks on synagogues and community centers in Sydney and Melbourne and the repeated spraying of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel graffiti on properties or vehicles in areas with large Jewish populations. Last month also saw a neo-Nazi rally near the Melbourne parliament.
Zev Stub contributed to this report.
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