In latest antisemitic attack in Australia, cars and home vandalized in Sydney

Vehicles painted with anti-Jewish slurs, as former house of Jewish community leader is defaced; police minister vows to ‘hunt’ down perpetrators

A car is daubed with the slur 'Fuck the Jews' in Sydney's Dover Heights in Australia, January 17, 2025 (Sky News screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
A car is daubed with the slur 'Fuck the Jews' in Sydney's Dover Heights in Australia, January 17, 2025 (Sky News screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Australian police vowed to crack down on a spate of antisemitic hate crimes after cars were torched and painted with slurs on Friday in an affluent Sydney suburb.

Two cars were set ablaze and other vehicles were daubed with anti-Jewish slogans near the former home of a Jewish community leader.

Police said these latest attacks, which they said were hate crimes, also included a house being splashed with red paint. The house once belonged to prominent Jewish Australian advocate Alex Ryvchin, and police were investigating if the attack was targeted.

“This was my family home for many years. It’s where my wife and I brought our youngest daughter home from the hospital. It’s where we hunkered down during the pandemic,” Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told reporters Friday.

“I tell you no fire, no vandalism, no paint, no threats, no intimidation will stop me. I will continue to fulfil my duty to my country, my community, and my people,” Ryvchin added.

New South Wales state police minister Yasmin Catley vowed to “hunt” down the perpetrators. “We will find you and lock you up,” Catley said. “What we are seeing on our streets is totally un-Australian.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said it was “a form of hatred and bigotry that has no place in Australia.”

“I unequivocally condemn the crimes that have been committed overnight,” Burke said.

Vandals defaced two Sydney synagogues with Nazi symbols last week. Masked arsonists torched a Melbourne synagogue in December, prompting the government to create a federal task force targeting antisemitism.

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