Cars and buildings have been vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney’s east with the New South Wales premier condemning the attack as “shocking” antisemitism.
Emergency services responded to reports of a vehicle on fire in Magney Street, Woollahra, at about 1am on Wednesday, NSW police said in a statement.
The car, along with another vehicle, two buildings and the footpath along Magney Street had been graffitied. Some of it was explicitly anti-Israel.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the vandalism in Woollahra was an “antisemitic attack”.
“This is not the Sydney we want,” he said in a statement.
“These racist attempts to divide our city won’t work. I’ll be speaking to police this morning. [The vandals] will be found and they will face the full force of the law.”
Minns told ABC radio there would be a “massive” response from police in the coming days.
He said it would be “wilful” to turn a blind eye and suggest the overnight vandalism in Woollahra was “anything other than an antisemitic attack”.
The premier cited “the location of the crime, the suggestion [in the graffiti] that they should kill Israel, the sequence of events following the burning down of a synagogue in Melbourne, the attacks in Sydney several weeks ago, the demonstrations outside religious institutions”.
Minns said there had to be “zero tolerance when it comes to people that want to … rip apart our community”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the vandalism was an “outrage” and “another antisemitic attack” and said he had spoken with the Australian federal police seeking a briefing.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack,” Albanese said.
“There’s no place for antisemitism in this country, or anywhere for that matter.
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“This is an attack on people because they happen to be Jewish. The idea that we take a conflict overseas and bring it here is something that is quite contrary to what Australia was built on, which is one where we have great strength [that] comes from the fact that people can live with different faiths, different ethnicities, different backgrounds, side by side. This is a hate crime. It’s as simple as that.”
The prime minister said it was a time for unity – not divisive comments seeking political advantage.
Police wanted to speak with two people believed to have been in the vicinity at the time, who had slim builds, were aged between 15 and 20 and had face coverings and dark clothing.
The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, said “every person has the right to feel safe in their own city”.
“We are committed to throwing everything we can behind this investigation and response and will provide further details on our actions in due course,” she said.
The state’s multiculturalism minister, Steve Kamper, said “the events which took place in Woollahra overnight are nothing short of abhorrent”.
“Our multicultural and multifaith society is one of our greatest achievements, but it can’t be taken for granted.”
