Firebombing mastermind sentenced to five years in prison
Nicholas James Alexander, 32, was sentenced to an aggregate five-year jail term with a non-parole period of three years and four months
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the five-year jail term handed down to the mastermind behind a wave of antisemitic firebombings was appropriate, saying the attacks “contributed to an environment of escalating attacks on Australian Jews which culminated in a massacre”.
Nicholas James Alexander, 32, was sentenced to an aggregate five-year jail term with a non-parole period of three years and four months at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday on seven offences.
“This man’s decision to target a childcare centre and a family home made people fear for their lives and the safety of their children,” Ryvchin said.
“They made Jewish Australians question their place in this country and change patterns of behaviour and interaction between Jews and non-Jews. His actions could have so easily caused people to be burned alive.”
Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson said Alexander’s offending formed part of organised activity that “targeted the Sydney Jewish community” through arson attacks and potential use of explosives, including an attack on Ryvchin’s former home.
“There was a deliberate tactic to divide the Arab and Jewish communities to further the aims of the larger criminal group overseas, which instructed Mr Alexander in that regard,” Atkinson said.
The court had previously accepted his attacks were not motivated by “racial hatred” and therefore that was not factored into his sentencing outcome.
Between late 2024 and early 2025, Alexander hired criminals on behalf of unknown people overseas, ordering them to firebomb a Maroubra childcare centre, paint 10 Nazi symbols on the Newtown Synagogue and torch cars outside Ryvchin’s former home.
Atkinson said Alexander’s sentence must reflect a “general deterrence” to deter others from similar offending.
“It caused emotional harm to the Jewish community and the wider Australian community. Mr Alexander knew the offences were creating fear in the Jewish community and beyond,” she said.
Alexander was charged with 10 offences in March last year and was one of 14 high-profile individuals arrested by Strike Force Pearl, which was created to investigate a surge of serious antisemitic attacks and hate crimes.
In December, Alexander pleaded guilty to seven offences — five days after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack — including four counts of destroying or damaging property in company, two counts of destroying property in company using fire and one count of knowingly or recklessly directing a criminal group to assist crime.
In August, The Australian revealed the attack on Ryvchin’s former Dover Heights home was one of a number of crimes being examined for links to the Iranian regime by ASIO.
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess had told the government the agency concluded that Iran had ordered the October 20, 2024 attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Bondi and the December 6, 2024 attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea.