'Beyond horrifying'Wave of antisemitic incidents across Sydney mounting

‘This is a campaign of domestic terrorism’

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the incident “should outrage and disturb all Australians”.

In Dover Heights cars were set ablaze, antisemitic slogans were graffitied on firebombed cars and the former house of Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin was doused in red paint.
In Dover Heights cars were set ablaze, antisemitic slogans were graffitied on firebombed cars and the former house of Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin was doused in red paint.

“These bastards will be rounded up by NSW Police,” vowed NSW Premier Chris Minns following Sydney’s latest antisemitic attack, this time shockingly on a childcare centre in Maroubra.

The Only About Children Early Learning Centre and Preschool – which is not Jewish but is located just metres from Maroubra Synagogue and a Jewish day school – was firebombed in the early hours of Tuesday and its walls daubed with “F**k the Jews”.

The incident came just four days after a van and car were set ablaze in Dover Heights, with the former home of Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin doused in red paint in what was seemingly a targeted attack.

“These scenes of a torched-out childcare centre on the same premises or block as a synagogue is completely heartbreaking,” said Minns.

“NSW Police are conducting a major investigation in relation to who is responsible for this vicious hate crime, but I think we know enough already without knowing the identities to know the kind of people that we are dealing with.”

Minns also promised that “extra resources are being put in” to the fight against hate crimes and that he was looking at changes to strengthen legislation, including Section 93Z which deals with incitement.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited the site with Minns, described the attack as a “vicious crime” and said the perpetrators will face the full force of the law.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the incident “should outrage and disturb all Australians”.

“This is yet another attack intended to harass, intimidate and menace the Jewish community. This isn’t just a string of antisemitic hate crimes – this is a campaign of domestic terrorism and needs to be treated as the crisis it is,” he said.

A childcare centre in Maroubra was firebombed.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler called the attack “beyond horrifying”.

“This is a deliberate attempt to instil fear in a Jewish community that has already endured well over a year of intimidation and violence,” he said.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the reality was “violent antisemitism is not a passing malady, but has become a chronic illness in Australia”.

Ryvchin said “to plan and execute the firebombing of a childcare centre requires a depth of savagery that is difficult to imagine”.

Last week, Ryvchin responded to the attack on his former home with a dire warning.

“I fear that we’re going to wake up before long with someone dead,” he said. “I think that’s the trajectory that we’re on and we’ve been there for a long time.”

Ryvchin said he could not be certain the perpetrators knew it was his old house, but “it might be the world’s biggest coincidence if, of all the houses in all the streets of this neighbourhood, they hit my former home by accident”.

“There is an evil at work in this country. How we respond to things like this will determine the fate of our country,” he said.

Rabbinical Association of Australasia president Rabbi Nochum Schapiro said, “The situation has escalated to a point where we can no longer afford to wait for a tragedy to occur.”

Meanwhile, AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said on Tuesday night, “We are looking into whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs,” according to reports.

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