Vandals burn a car and spray graffiti in latest antisemitic attack in Sydney

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Vandals torched a car and sprayed graffiti with anti-Israel slogans on Wednesday in a Sydney suburb that is home to Australia’s largest Jewish community. Officials condemned the attack as antisemitic.

The incident in the eastern suburb of Woollahra came after federal police this week established a task force to investigate increasing antisemitic crimes across the country. Police said they are searching for two suspects, aged between 15 and 20, who were seen at the scene of the attack, wearing face masks, or balaclavas, and dark clothing.

Police cordoned off the scene of the attack. It wasn’t immediately known what the graffiti said.

Last week’s arson at a Melbourne synagogue marked an escalation in targeted attacks in Australia since the war began between Israel and the militant Hamas group started over a year ago in the Gaza Strip.

Cars and buildings have previously been vandalized and torched across Australia in protests inspired by the war. This week, authorities declared the attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue a terrorist attack, which increases the resources and information available to investigators.

Also this week, federal police announced Special Operation Avalite to target those behind antisemitic attacks around the country — including the arson at the Melbourne synagogue, the attack on Jewish lawmaker Josh Burns’ Melbourne office in June, and an attack last month on a car in Woollahra.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the Woollahra attack on Wednesday as an “outrage” and a “hate crime.”

“It is another antisemitic attack and all Australians must condemn it,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There’s no place for antisemitism in this country or anywhere else for that matter.”

He said he had been briefed by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw on the attack and would soon be briefed by Special Operation Avalite officials, and rejected allegations the attack could be a criticism of Israel rather than Jews.

“This isn’t an attack on a government, this is an attack on people because they happen to be Jewish,” Albanese said. “The idea that we take a conflict overseas and bring it here is something that is quite contrary to what Australia was built on.”

Government opponents argue that Albanese has been too slow to call out rising antisemitism for fear of alienating pro-Palestinian groups.

Opposition Sen. Jane Hume said she knew a Jewish couple who were considering moving from Australia to Israel because they would feel safer there, despite the raging Mideast wars.

“Because the government has prevaricated, because it has used weasel words and wishy-washy language, it does seem that those that are committing these offenses have been emboldened if not enabled by a government that has failed to take leadership,” Hume said.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish global human rights organization, issued a travel warning on Tuesday, urging Jews to “exercise extreme caution” in Australia as “a result of the failure of Australian authorities to stand up against persistent demonization, harassment and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Australia.”