A car with a Chanukah decoration on its roof was set ablaze in Melbourne early Thursday, as a wave of antisemitism persists in Australia.
The Christmas morning attack came just 10 days after the Sydney Chanukah mass shooting that killed 15 people and wounded dozens in the most lethal assault on Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre.
There were no injuries reported in the 2:30 a.m. arson in the Melbourne neighborhood of St. Kilda East, but the occupants of a nearby house were evacuated as a precaution.
Balaclava Road, where the vehicle was parked, passes through a major Jewish neighborhood, and close to the location of a number of Jewish institutes, including a large Orthodox Jewish girls’ high school.
Victoria police, who described the incident as a “suspicious fire,” said on Thursday that they had identified a person of interest in the case.
Australian Jewish community leaders already reeling from the Sydney attack condemned the arson, which they attributed to a climate in which extremist rhetoric has been normalized.
“This heinous antisemitic attack has seen a young family have their car destroyed and being too frightened to stay in their home simply because they chose to share the joy of Chanukah with the community,” said Colin Rubenstein, executive director Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, in a statement to JNS.
“It further emphasizes the urgent need for the state and federal governments to crack down on the antisemitism and incitement to and perpetration of violence rampant on our streets before there are more tragic outcomes. The Jewish community deserves to go about our lives and to celebrate our culture in safety, and the governments must do everything they can to ensure that is the case.”
Elyse Schachna, president of the Australian Jewish group Zionism Victoria, told JNS, “We don’t yet know intent, but when only one vehicle bearing a Jewish symbol is targeted, it cannot be ignored. Isolated incidents do not happen in a vacuum. Violence grows where extremist rhetoric is normalized. It would be a terrible day for Australian Jewry if people began to fear displaying their identity in public, and we cannot allow it to reach that point.”
When asked about the incident as he attended a Christmas event in Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was “beyond comprehension.”
“What sort of evil ideology and thoughts at a time like this would motivate someone?” he said. “We know that there is evil present. We saw that with this father and son terrorist atrocity at Bondi Beach.”
Albanese has been widely condemned for allowing antisemitic hate speech to run rampant over the last two years.
Meanwhile, an Australian man was charged Wednesday for posting a message on social media in favor of the Bondi attack. Police told the court that they found six licensed firearms, 4,000 rounds of ammunition and antisemitic material in his Western Australia home.
About 110,000 Jews live in Australia, mostly in Melbourne and Sydney.
