Cars and houses in Sydney vandalized with antisemitic graffiti in latest incident targeting Jews

Cars and houses in Sydney have been daubed in antisemitic graffiti, police said early Sunday, the latest in a string of incidents targeting Jews in Australia’s biggest city.

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 re-election in polls that must be held by May.

In the latest incident, police say that vehicles and residences were damaged with antisemitic graffiti in Sydney’s east, an area with a significant Jewish community, overnight.

“Crime scenes have been established,” police say 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, says 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.”

On Thursday, antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on three sites including Mount Sinai College in the city’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.

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