The premier of Australia's New South Wales state, Chris Minns, said on Sunday that an attack on a Sydney synagogue on Saturday marked an escalation in antisemitic crime in the state, after police said the attack was attempted arson.
Australia has seen a series of antisemitic incidents in the last year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney, as well as an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne that police ruled terrorism.
In the latest incident, police were notified of antisemitic graffiti on a synagogue in the inner suburb of Newtown early on Saturday. An arson attempt was also made on the synagogue, police later said.
"This is an escalation in antisemitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerant may have been used," Minns, the leader of Australia's most populous state, said on Sunday in a televised media conference alongside state police commissioner Karen Webb.
"In the last 24 hours, these matters have now been taken over by counterterrorism command," Webb said.
A house in Sydney's east, a hub of the city's Jewish community, was also defaced with antisemitic graffiti, police said on Saturday, adding they were also looking into offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.
On Friday, a special police task force was set up to investigate an attack on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah early Friday morning.
David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said on Sunday he welcomed extra resources promised by the government in the recent incidents.
"The New South Wales government has also provided us with additional funding to enhance Jewish communal security," Ossip added in a statement.
On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, referring to the Southern Sydney Synagogue incident, said that there was "no place in Australia, our tolerant multicultural community, for this sort of criminal activity."
The number of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents have increased in Australia since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and Israel launched its war on Gaza. Some Jewish organizations have said the government has not taken sufficient action in response.
