Australia: Offensive graffiti spray-painted on synagogue, house in Sydney; investigations underway

Police have launched an investigation after offensive graffiti was spray-painted on a synagogue and a house in Australia’s Sydney, ABC News reported.

Police received information on Saturday at about 7:30 am (local time) after graffiti was spray-painted on a synagogue on Georgina Street, Newtown in Sydney. Several red swastikas were painted along the front fence of the synagogue.

The NSW Police has released pictures which show two people, one on a bike, wearing light-coloured shoes, black hoodies and dark clothes outside the building. Earlier on Friday, the Allawah synagogue in southern Sydney was vandalised with several swastikas spray-painted onto exterior walls in what police have termed an “offensive” graffiti, ABC News reported.

On Saturday, officers arrived at a house on Henry Street, Queens Park in Sydney, after it was informed that an anti-Semitic slur had been spray-painted on the front of the property. The words “F*** Jews” were sprayed outside of the home. It is the second such incident on the street this week.

Earlier on Monday, the same phrase was scrawled on the side of a car. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the incident and said, “anti-Semitism is a scourge.” Police have started an investigation into each of the incidents.

A police investigation has also started into offensive words written on a poster on Marrickville Road in Marrickville. NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip said the targeting of synagogues should “sicken us all.” He said, “No one should think that these are just acts of vandalism.”

He stated, “These hate-filled cretins need to know that they will not succeed.” On Saturday, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced a USD 340,000 grant to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies to contribute towards increased temporary security steps, ABC News reported.

In his remarks on the graffiti, he said that “these acts designed to intimidate and divide will not work”. Minns said, “These people are determined to divide our community in two. We will always call out these acts for what they are — monstrous and appalling.”

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich called the incidents “terrorism against our Jewish community.” He said, “When Nazi symbols appear once, it’s horrifying. When they appear twice in rapid succession, it’s a crisis demanding immediate action.”