Gangland copycat: Sydney’s latest anti-Semitic attack was ‘meticulously planned’, used underworld tactic
Police flooded Sydney’s eastern suburbs with patrols overnight as shock footage of an anti-Semitic firebomb attack in Woollahra emerged. See the footage and watch the video of cops on patrol.
NSW
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A heavy squad of police spent Wednesday night in Sydney’s east, running constant patrols in Jewish communities, as CCTV of a shocking anti-Semitic firebombing is revealed.
The vision, obtained exclusively by The Australian, shows the moments two balaclava-clad men flee the vehicle after it was set alight on Mangey St in Woollahra on Tuesday night.
NSW Police visited several synagogues and Jewish schools in the aftermath of the incident on Wednesday afternoon, and by night fall, police were everywhere.
Gates and perimeters to Jewish properties were checked and double-checked, while patrol cars ran continuous laps of the suburb to ensure another attack did not take unfold.
They shook hands with Jewish leaders and offered support, reminding them to “call us” if they noticed anything suspicious.
The officers, some in bullet proof vests, others in their regular uniforms, marched through Bondi and Double Bay, following fears the shocking incident less than 24 hours prior.
The increased patrols are part of Operation Shelter, which was initially put in place in the wake of the October 7 Opera House protest, and bolstered following Tuesday night’s firebombing.
A major investigation into the incident on Magney St in Woollahra is underway, with police revealing the incident been meticulously planned by two men using a stolen car fitted with cloned number plates.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew to Sydney on Wednesday and spoke at the Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst, where he labelled the attack as “abhorrent” and said his government would work with authorities to ensure the perpetrators are “brought to justice”.
“We need an end to anti-Semitism, it is evil, it diminishes us as a nation when we have events as we saw again (in Woollahra),” Mr Albanese said.
“To wake to this latest attack just a matter of a couple of kilometres from here … that is completely abhorrent to who we are as Australians.
“Holocaust survivors came to Australia because we are a tolerant country. We’re one in which our whole Australian society is enriched by people living side-by-side of different faiths, different ethnicities and different backgrounds.
“This is about Jewish Australians … it’s an anti-Semitic attack against Jewish Australians.”
Police believe two men, aged between 15 and 20, drove into Magney St at 1am and spray painted “kill Israiel” (sic) on one home’s fence and “death 2 Israiel” (sic) on two neighbouring residences.
The homes were targeted despite two of them having Christmas wreaths on their front door.
The offenders then set alight a stolen small red hatchback they had travelled in – causing a large explosion of light along the quiet suburban street – and fled the scene.
The Daily Telegraph understands police investigating the attack have found the licence plates fitted to the car were cloned, a tactic commonly used by Sydney’s underworld to ensure the car does not appear as stolen in police computer systems.
Premier Chris Minns visited Magney St on Wednesday morning, and as he got out of the car to see the anti-Semitic phrases graffitied on the fences of the homes, calling it “appalling”.
“We wanted to see it for ourselves … appalling,” he said.
Just hours earlier he told media outside Bondi Pavilion he was “concerned about the rising attacks” on the Jewish community and pledged an increase in NSW Police patrols through the eastern suburbs.
“I don’t think there’s any point sugar coating it or downplaying it,” Mr Minns said.
“This was specifically designed, in my view, to incite hate and intimidate the Jewish community in Sydney.”
The premier added it was important to be “clear and unambiguous about the meaning of this crime”.
The incident on Magney St follows not only the firebombing of Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue last Friday – which police have labelled a “terrorist” attack – but comes less than three weeks after another incident in Woollahra in which a man allegedly damaged 10 buildings and vehicles with anti-Israel graffiti.
Police initiated Strike Force Mylor after cars were damaged and the doors of Matt Moran’s iconic Chiswick restaurant graffitied last month, and have so far charged two men who remain before the courts.
A further graffiti incident at Arncliffe was reported on Wednesday, following other recent incidents of anti-Semitism, including a Nazi swastika being spray painted on a pride flag mural in Mascot.
Independent MP Allegra Spender, the member for Wentworth which includes the suburb of Woollahra, said she had received increasing reports of anti-Semitism from locals in recent weeks.
One of those incidents included a car pulling a Hittler salute as they passed a young Jewish child.
“It’s devastating to this community, it’s absolutely heartbreaking, because it is intended to send fear into the community,” Ms Spender said.
“I think that has to be the message to the country, that we will not tolerate this sort of intimidation of Australians in their homes.”
Police Commissioner Karen Webb said they had allocated a return to the full resources that were part of Operation Shelter, set up in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks and Sydney Opera House protests that followed.
Officers swarmed Magney St on Wednesday, with 10 carrying out a strategic line search for evidence, looking under parked cars, scouring bins and sifting through grass.
Front yards of houses were searched through for any clues that may identify the people involved in the vile overnight attack, with a jerry can.
At two of the houses targeted by graffiti, residents were anxious about discussing the attack.
“We’ve got three kids in the house, we don’t want to be involved,” one woman said.
At the house next door, a woman said “we don’t want to talk about it”.
Council workers used a high pressure hose to clean the fences, as well as the word “Jews” which was sprayed in white on the footpath.
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