Two cars in an affluent Sydney suburb have been torched and a house soaked in red paint in yet another suspected anti-Semitic attack to hit the city.
Multiple cars parked on Military Road in Dover Heights were spray painted with anti-Semitic slogans and two were set alight set alight around 4am.
A home in the exclusive eastern suburbs neighbourhood, where the average house price is over $5million, was also splashed with red paint.
Residents were awoken by a loud bang before coming out to see the flames engulfing the vehicles.
Neighbours told AAP they believe the attack to be a case of mistaken identity as Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin used to live at the targeted property.
Mr Ryvchin has been contacted for comment.
A crime scene has been established and police are calling on any witnesses to come forward.
Police said there were no reports of injuries.
Multiple cars parked on Military Road in Dover Heights were spray painted with anti-Semitic slogans and two were set alight set alight around 4am (pictured)
A home in the exclusive eastern suburbs neighbourhood, where the average house price is over $5million, was also splashed with red paint (pictured)
‘The NSW Police Force takes hate crimes seriously,’ a police spokesperson said.
Anthony Albanese labelled the Dover Heights incident ‘another anti-Semitic attack that is against everything that we stand for’.
‘This is an outrage,’ he told ABC radio.
The Prime Minister welcomed the Australian Federal Police charging a man on Thursday with making death threats to members of a Jewish organisation.
‘This is the first charges that have arisen from Special Operation Avalite that I established last month that continues to work to identify prolific anti-Semites causing high harm in the community,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘That is why we set it up and it is good that these charges have been laid.’
NSW Premier Chris Minns says everything is being done to catch the perpetrators.
‘This is a disgusting and dangerous act of violence that is the latest example of a rising level of anti-Semitic attacks in our community,’ he said.
‘Civil society stands united in condemning this flagrant racism.’
Neighbours told AAP they believe the attack to be a case of mistaken identify as Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin (pictured) used to live at the targeted property
Anthony Albanese labelled the Dover Heights incident ‘another anti-Semitic attack that is against everything that we stand for’
President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said he was ‘profoundly disturbed and sickened to wake up to news of yet another anti-Semitic attack’.
‘Criminal acts like these, perpetrated by masked cowards and thugs in the dead of night, are intended to menace and intimidate the Jewish community and further fragment our social cohesion,’ he said.
‘The hate-filled criminals who are perpetrating these crimes need to know that their campaign of domestic terrorism will not succeed, the Jewish community is resilient, strong and unbowed and will continue to be so.’
It is the latest suspected anti-Semitic attack to hit Sydney in recent days.
On Monday a wall near Sydenham Train Station in the city’s inner-west was spray-painted with the words ‘gas the Jews’.
Swastikas were also daubed on the nearby Newtown Synagogue before masked vandals attempted to burn it down.
Last Friday, the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah was also targeted by anti-Semitic vandals who daubed a number of large red Swastikas at the entrance to the place of worship.
It is the latest suspected anti-Semitic attack to hit Sydney in recent days (Pictured: anti-Semitic graffiti spray painted on a wall behind a burnt out car in Woollahra, in Sydney’s east last year)
Pictured: is the southern Sydney synagogue in Allawah after it was targeted last Friday
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned on the Newtown incident and said that those who committed the act ‘should face the full force of the law’.
‘The vile graffiti we’ve seen overnight, including at the Newtown Synagogue, is abhorrent and needs to stop immediately,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘We made it illegal to use Nazi and other hate symbols because there‘s no place in Australia for anti-Semitism.’
A shocking new poll carried out by the Anti-Defamation League found that one in five Australian adults hold strong anti-Semitic beliefs.
Around 20 per cent of Australians – equivalent to 4.2million people – hold anti-Semitic beliefs, with an alarming number of young people believing the Holocaust was a myth.
Globally, less than half (48 per cent) recognise the Holocaust’s historical accuracy, which falls to 39 per cent in the 18-34 age group.
While three in five (61 per cent) of Australian respondents believe the Holocaust is described accurately, fewer younger respondents agree.
Those 18-49 aged are more likely to think the death toll was exaggerated (18 per cent), never heard of the Holocaust (nine per cent), or believed it was a myth (8 per cent).
