A fresh spate of antisemitic incidents has been reported in the Sydney and Perth areas of Australia, following several similar cases on Thursday and amid an investigation into a possible antisemitic bomb plot.
In Bondi Beach near Sydney, detectives were searching on Sunday for three men suspected of throwing eggs at a group of Jewish women on Saturday night.
Also on Sunday, Australian police said that vehicles and residences were damaged overnight with antisemitic graffiti in an area with a significant Jewish community in Sydney in eastern Australia, Reuters reported. The incidents occurred in Kingsford and Randwick, according to the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.
In the western city of Perth, graffiti featuring a swastika and the text “F**ck JEWS” was painted on a wall, according to the Australian Jewish Association. On X, the Association wrote: “It’s clear that the Federal Government has lost control.”
Police said in a statement about the incidents in Sydney that “crime scenes have been established.” On Saturday, police doubled to 40 the number of officers on a special task force targeting antisemitic crime in New South Wales that was set up in December.
In Sydney, the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies said that, in addition to antisemitic graffiti, there have been more than 10 publicly reported “serious incidents of antisemitic vandalism, arson and worse in the last three weeks alone.”
The Board added on X: “This is not normal. This isn’t the Australia we know and love. To find our way back, every Australian must call out this behavior, the terrorists perpetrating and arranging these crimes must be apprehended and penalties must be strengthened so that any would-be assailant is deterred.”
Last week, Australian police said that explosives found in an RV on Sydney’s outskirts last month were evidence of an escalation in a months-long campaign of antisemitic incidents in major cities.
Police found a list of Jewish targets together with a cache of Powergel, an explosive used in the mining industry, in a trailer in the outer suburb of Dural on Jan. 19, according to New South Wales state Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson. Authorities are investigating whether the explosives and other antisemitic incidents are being paid for by foreign entities, The Australian reported.
