Second synagogue in Sydney, Australia defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti

A synagogue in Sydney was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti, police said, a day after another synagogue in the New South Wales capital was also targeted with anti-Semitic vandalism. According to police officials, earlier on Saturday, red Nazi symbols were spray-painted outside the entrance of a synagogue in the city center, while a house in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs was also defaced with anti-Jewish slurs.

This incident follows an attack on the South Sydney Synagogue in the southern Sydney suburb of Allawah in the early hours of Friday. Late Friday, police formed a special task force to investigate the incident. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking about the South Sydney Synagogue incident on Friday, stated, "There is absolutely no place for such criminal activity in Australia, in our tolerant multicultural community." Premier Chris Minns added, "These people are determined to divide our community."

"We will always call out these acts for what they are – abhorrent," said Albanese. Australia has seen a series of anti-Semitic incidents over the past year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney, and an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue that police have classified as "terrorism." The Melbourne synagogue attack in December prompted the government to establish a federal task force targeting anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the country have increased since Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023 and Israel's subsequent war in Gaza. Some Jewish organizations have stated that the government has not taken sufficient measures to respond. These incidents have also strained Australia's relationship with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Albanese's Labor government of encouraging such attacks with "anti-Israel" policies.

Netanyahu wrote on X last December, referring to the synagogue arson attack, "Unfortunately, this criminal behavior cannot be separated from the anti-Israel atmosphere blown by the Australian Labor government." Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (who is Jewish) said Netanyahu's linking of the attacks to government policy was "absolutely wrong." Dreyfus told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the national broadcaster, last month, "Australia remains a close friend of Israel, as we have been since the Labor government recognized the state of Israel created by the United Nations. That remains the case now."