Vandalism in Sydney (archive)
Vandalism in Sydney (archive)Reuters/AAP Image/Steve Markham

Sydney police reported on Sunday that cars and houses had been vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, marking the latest in a series of attacks targeting the Jewish community in Australia’s largest city, Reuters reported.

Authorities said that overnight, antisemitic graffiti had been scrawled on vehicles and homes in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, an area known for its sizable Jewish community.

"Crime scenes have been established," police confirmed in a statement which comes a day after they doubled the number of officers—now totaling 40—in a special task force launched in December to combat antisemitic offenses in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state.

David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, condemned the attack, stating that "cars and homes were defaced with hate speech for the sole purpose of intimidating and terrorizing the Jewish community and destabilizing Sydney’s social harmony."

The incidents are the latest in a string of antisemitic incidents, which have risen in Australia since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

In early December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed, in an incident that is being treated as an act of terrorism.

Days later, a car was set on fire, and two properties were vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, which has a substantial Jewish population.

In another incident, the words "F— the Jews" were spray-painted on a car in Sydney.

In early January, the Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah, a suburb of the city, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.

A day later, the Newtown synagogue, located in Sydney’s inner west, was vandalized with red swastikas that were spray-painted across the building’s front wall.

In another incident, a home in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, previously owned by Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, was vandalized.

This past Thursday, antisemitic graffiti was also discovered at three locations, including Mount Sinai College in the city’s east.

That came a day after authorities revealed they had discovered explosives inside a caravan in Sydney, with police estimating that they could have generated a blast wave of 40 meters. Investigators suspect the explosives may have been intended for a large-scale attack targeting the Jewish community.