US consulate in Sydney vandalized with suspected pro-Palestinian symbol
Australia’s PM tells activists on both sides of Israel-Hamas war debate to ‘turn the heat down’ after windows smashed, two inverted triangles painted at front of building
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged activists on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian debate to “turn the heat down” after the US Consulate in Sydney was vandalized on Monday.
Surveillance video showed a person wearing a dark hoodie using a small sledgehammer to smash nine holes in the reinforced glass windows of the building in North Sydney after 3 a.m., a police statement said.
Two inverted red triangles, seen by some as a symbol of Palestinian resistance but by others as supporting the Hamas terror group, were also painted on the front of the building.
Albanese urged people to have “respectful political debate and discourse.”
“People are traumatized by what is going on in the Middle East, particularly those with relatives in either Israel or in the Palestinian Occupied Territories,” Albanese told reporters.
“And I just say, again, reiterate my call to turn the heat down and measures such as painting the US consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is, of course, a crime to damage property,” Albanese added.
The consulate was closed on Monday because of a public holiday in New South Wales state but would reopen on Tuesday, a consulate statement said.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said an overwhelming majority of Australians did not approve of such vandalism.
“We can make our point in this country without resorting to violence or malicious behavior,” Minns said.
The consulate was sprayed with graffiti in April, including the words “Freee (sic) Gaza.”
The US Consulate in Melbourne was vandalized by pro-Palestinian activists on May 31.
Long a stalwart ally of Israel, Australia has become increasingly critical of its conduct in Gaza, where an Australian aid worker was killed in an Israeli attack on a World Central Kitchen convoy earlier this year. Israel said it was an unintentional incident caused by a mistaken determination that Hamas operatives were in the convoy.
Last month, camps sprang up at universities in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and other Australian cities protesting the operation against Hamas and claiming the Australian government has not done enough to push for peace.
