‘Un-Australian’: Sydney home previously owned by Jewish activist vandalized, cars torched in antisemitic attack

Australian authorities say a Sydney home that was previously owned by a senior Jewish community leader was vandalized and two cars set on fire overnight, amid a series of antisemitic incidents in the city in recent months.

The attack, the third targeting the Jewish community in Sydney in two months, happened on a property once owned by Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of the Australian Jewry, according to New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.

“These are horrifying antisemitic attacks… it is truly disgusting,” Minns says during a media conference.

“While police can’t categorically at this early stage of the investigation say that the attack and the residence are linked, clearly it would be a massive coincidence if they were not linked.”

Police say the house in the upscale suburb of Dover Heights was spray painted in red. There are no reports of injury.

“I tell you no fire, no vandalism, no paint, no threats, no intimidation will stop me. I will continue to fulfill my duty to my country, my community, and my people,” Ryvchin tells reporters after the incident, vowing to continue advocating for the Jewish community.

New South Wales state police minister Yasmin Catley vows to “hunt” down the perpetrators.

“We will find you and lock you up,” Catley says. “What we are seeing on our streets is totally un-Australian.”

Australia has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents since war erupted in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.

A car was set alight and two properties spray painted with anti-Israel messages in Sydney last month, just days after an arson attack at a synagogue in Melbourne which is being investigated as terrorism.

Most Popular