Politicians, community leaders speak out against second Woollahra anti-Semitic attack
Wednesday morning’s anti-Semitic attack in Sydney’s eastern suburbs – the second in as a month – has been slammed by politicians and punters with one claiming the nation has been shamed on a global scale. WHO SAID WHAT?
NSW
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Sydney has been left reeling after the second anti-Semitic incident in Woollahra since November, after cars and homes were vandalised in an early morning attack on Wednesday.
State and federal politicians and community leaders have spoken out this morning to “unequivocally condemn” the incident.
MICHELLE GOLD, WOOLLAHRA RESIDENT
“When you’ve got a mob burning flags outside of a Sydney icon and they’re saying ‘where are the Jews?’...for what purpose? Why do they want to know? Are they going to come after us with their pitchforks? The fact that the police were standing around and watching that and not acting on that is beyond horrible.
As a community we’ve been let down.
The bigger picture is that it hasn’t been managed, it hasn’t been taken care of. It’s been allowed to fester to a point where we’re seeing homes being vandalised, property being destroyed, synagogues being burnt down. Australia’s embarrassing itself on a global scale.”
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER
“The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack.”
“There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our community.”
CHRIS MINNS, NSW PREMIER
“This is not the Sydney we want, these racist attempts to divide our city won’t work.
“They will be found and they will face the full force of the law.”
YASMIN CATLEY, MINISTER FOR POLICE AND COUNTER TERRORISM
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, acts of hatred and violence directed at our Jewish community.
“There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our society.
“Every person has the right to feel safe in their own city, their homes, and their places of worship.
“We are committed to throwing everything we can behind this investigation and response and will provide further details on our actions in due course.”
MARK SPEAKMAN, STATE OPPOSITION LEADER
Mr Speakman likened the incremental rise in anti-Semitism in Australia to a frog slowly boiling to death in a pot of water.
He said anti-Jew “hatred and bigotry” has been around for centuries, but is getting worse.
“It’s a bit like the frog in boiling water,” he said.
“We’ve seen a sort of an incremental rise in anti-Semitis semitism in this state and in this country, and that’s why we need a zero tolerance approach.”
He called for community leaders to demand harmony among different groups.
“One thing we can do is encourage, in this case, Jewish groups and groups of other faith to get together,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that what is happening in Gaza has heightened emotions, and people can feel very passionately about that, but the job at a state level is to promote community cohesion,” he said.
“These cowardly, anti-Semitic attacks strike at the heart of our society. We need not just the full force of the law but every other ounce of resolve to root out this hatred. Our communities deserve nothing less.”
KELLIE SLOANE, MEMBER FOR VAUCLUSE
“We can’t dismiss this as a random attack because this is clearly part of a sustained campaign of intimidation and terrorism against a community that is trying to live their lives peacefully, trying to practice their faith, and are being targeted.”
“The full force of the law must be applied.
“They are deliberately targeting the Jewish community. They are coming into an area that has a heavy Jewish population.
“They’re idiots. But, they are dangerous idiots.”
DAVE SHARMA, SENATOR FOR NSW
“This is simply reaching unprecedented and entirely unacceptable levels in Australia.”
“We had an attack similar to this with the fire-bombing of a car, anti-Jewish graffiti in a neighbourhood in Woollahra not far from here a few weeks ago.
We had the firebombing of the Adass synagogue. These have all the hallmarks of terrorist acts. These are acts conducted for political or religious purposes designed to intimidate, threaten and menace a community and that’s exactly what this is designed to do.
“It’s time – well beyond time – for our authorities to treat this with the seriousness it deserves, to elevate the law enforcement handling of this to make sure they conduct serious investigations and charge for aggravated offences that the Terrorist Act provides for.
“For too long the Jewish community I think are having to deal with this in Australia and they’ve been let down by weak political leadership and people not prepared to call this out for what it is and say it must stop.”
The former Ambassador to Israel said that anti-Semitism has surged due to the Albanese government’s “failure to recognise very early on that a war overseas in the Middle East was going to have social cohesion implications in Australia”.
He said the October 9 Opera House protests where Israeli flags were burnt and protesters yelled anti-Jewish chants sounded a warning that the Gaza conflict was going to inflame tensions here, and a sign that things were “going to get a whole lot worse”.
“Imams preaching the day after (October 7) praising the attack, their visa status should have been looked at, and if they’re non-citizens, their visas should have been revoked months ago,” he said.
“The AFP should have been looking at this with a terrorism lens,” he said.
He said allowing weekly pro-Palestinian protests in Sydney was a “terrible mistake,” with the rallies making the city “off-limits to Jewish Australians” and stoked “anti-Jewish sentiment”.
ALEX RYVCHIN, CEO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN JEWRY
“The Jewish community again wakes to scenes of terror and devastation.
“More burning cars and broken glass - another act intended to terrorise us, drive us from our country and make our fellow Australians fearful of associating with us.
“How long will this continue and with what horrors will it end?
“We ask that you stand with us. March with us. Don’t let this evil tear our country to pieces, we expect the new AFP taskforce to bring the perpetrators swiftly to justice.”
DVIR ABRAMOVICH, CHAIRMAN ANTI-DEFAMATION COMMISSION
“This wasn’t mere vandalism. This was terror. A brazen assault on identity, safety, and freedom. Look around. The walls of Sydney are crying out in hate. The fires that burned on Magney Street weren’t just flames – they were a signal flare of a society teetering on the brink. Graffiti that screams ‘Kill Israiel’ is not a misspelling; it is a declaration of war against every Jewish person in Australia.
This is the inferno of anti-Semitism, roaring back to life, daring us to confront it or let it consume us. How many times do we have to say, ‘Never again,’ only to wake up to find ‘Again’ written in flames on our streets? How many more synagogues, schools, and homes must be vandalised before we stop calling this ‘shocking’ and start calling it what it is: an assault on the very fabric of Australian society?
What we saw in Woollahra is a coordinated campaign of terror. These masked cowards, with their spray cans and torches, have thrown down the gauntlet. They want us to live in fear. They want us to look over our shoulders. They want to set our nights ablaze.
But to those who seek to intimidate us, hear this: We will not bow. We will not cower. We will not be silenced. Your flames only fuel our resolve. Your hatred only hardens our unity.
These brazen attacks are not just graffiti on walls or charred vehicles; they are a burning question to every leader, every police officer, every citizen: Will you let hate win? Will you stand by while our cities descend into chaos, or will you rise and crush this evil where it stands?”
DAVID OSSIP, PRESIDENT NSW JEWISH BOARD OF DEPUTIES
“It is clear that the bigotry that once lurked in dark recesses of our state now brazenly stalks the Jewish community.
“The sustained campaign of terror, intimidation and harassment directed at the Jewish community is a national crisis and we need swift action in response.”
MARK DREYFUS, ATTORNEY GENERAL
“Another shocking act of anti-Semitism overnight. Police are investigating. Australia is better than this. All Australians need to unite against anti-Semitism.”
ALLEGRA SPENDER, INDEPENDENT MP
Ms Spender visited to scene of the latest attack and said the “entire community” was fed up with the hate crimes towards Jewish people.
“It’s unacceptable, and we need to really push very hard to make sure everybody who is part of these attacks are held to account … goes to jail, and make sure these things are not tolerated in this community,” she said.
STEVE KAMPER, NSW MULTICULTUTALISM MINISTER
“We unequivocally condemn violence and anti-Semitism in all its forms.”
“We will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure our communities are protected.”
He called for Sydney communities to reject “importation of overseas conflict”.
“Our multicultural and multifaith society is one of our greatest achievements, but it can’t be taken for granted. It requires constant work to ensure harmony is maintained.”
CLOVER MOORE, CITY OF SYDNEY LORD MAYOR
At a restaurant opening in Redfern, Ms Moore told The Daily Telegraph: “Discrimination against any group is quite shocking.
“It’s not (what Sydney’s about). We are inclusive, we pride ourselves on being inclusive, and not just tolerant but accepting of all peoples.
“We’ve got to get on with life here, be supportive of each other and have empathy too.”
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