Daycare attack sparks crisis talks over antisemitism

January 21, 2025 by AAP J-Wire
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Australia’s leaders will meet in a desperate bid to find solutions to a growing antisemitism crisis after “bastards” burnt a childcare centre a short distance from a synagogue.

Anthony Albanese at the Jewish Museum

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a national cabinet meeting for Tuesday afternoon, bowing to pressure for stronger action after a series of incidents targeting the Jewish community.

The Only About Children centre in Maroubra in Sydney’s east was set on fire soon after midnight on Tuesday and the words “F*** the Jews” were sprayed in black paint on a wall.

The site is a block away from Maroubra Synagogue and the attack marks the latest in a string of anti-Semitic arson and graffiti incidents in the city’s east, which is home to a large Jewish community.

Mr Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns, who both attended the site on Tuesday, pledged to throw all necessary resources at tracking down those responsible.

“This is a place for children and families and it should never have been denigrated by this despicable and horrifying crime,” the PM told reporters.

Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, added: “The attack on a childcare centre in Maroubra yesterday again underscores the reality that violent antisemitism is not a passing malady, but has become a chronic illness in Australia.

It also shows the immediate need for stronger government action to confront this profound challenge to Australia as a multicultural liberal democracy.

On an almost daily basis, arsonists and vandals are striking synagogue after synagogue, and in incident after incident, targeting Australia’s Jews.

Up to now , too many of our opinion leaders have dismissed incidents of hate, incitement to violence and violence itself as mere anti-Israel or anti-Zionist political activism. But these attacks are escalating and have become a clear and present danger first and foremost to Australian Jews, but also to the wider community.

We welcome the Prime Minister’s belated decision to call a National Cabinet meeting on this crisis, as his own antisemitism envoy has repeatedly urged.”

ECAJ co-CEO, Peter Wertheim, welcomed the announcement from National Cabinet to establish a National Database to track antisemitic crime and other antisemitic incidents and behaviours. “We have been advocating in support of this measure to successive governments for the last five years. We would urge governments to go further so that the database tracks all hate-motivated crime, as governments have been doing in the UK, Canada and the US for more than thirty years.”

“We hope that this modest but important measure is just a first step.  We need the National Cabinet to give leadership and direction to the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, the Education Ministers Meeting and other arms of government to achieve a co-ordinated whole-of government response to antisemitism in law enforcement, legislative reform, school education, universities and civil society.”

National Cabinet should now declare all recent attacks on Jewish communal and individual targets as acts of terrorism – the pursuit of political objectives through the use of violence against civilian targets.

A TIMELINE OF MAJOR ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS

* November 21: A suburb in Sydney’s east that is home to a large Jewish population was  targeted with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel graffiti, while a car was also reportedly set on fire. Three men have been charged over the incidents

* December 6: The Adass Israel Synagogue in south Melbourne was burned down in an attack Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled an act of terrorism

* December 11: Graffiti including “Kill Israiel” (sic) was sprayed on buildings and footpaths in a Sydney suburb known for its Jewish community, while a car perpetrators allegedly drove to the scene was set on fire. A 34-year-old woman has been charged in relation to the incident

* January 6: “F*** the Jews” was painted on a car in Sydney’s east, while other anti-Semitic slogans were sprayed on nearby buildings and footpaths

* January 10: Swastikas were painted on the Southern Sydney Synagogue, an act the NSW premier called “disgusting and disgraceful”

* January 11: A synagogue in Sydney’s inner west was spray-painted with red swastikas and vandals attempted to set it on fire, but the blaze didn’t take hold

* January 16: Police charged a man who allegedly used social media to make death threats against members of the Jewish community

* January 17: A house that formerly belonged to Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin was targeted in an arson and graffiti attack

*January 21: A childcare centre a short distance from the Maroubra Synagogue, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was set on fire with the words “F*** the Jews” sprayed in black paint on a wall

AAP

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