‘F*** Jews’ graffitied on homes, cars in Randwick and Kingsford as anti-Semitic attacks continue
Three young men are on the run after egging five women at Bondi Beach in a targeted anti-Semitic attack, as more hateful graffiti was found plastered across homes and cars in two of Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Get the latest.
NSW
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Three young men are on the run after egging five women at Bondi Beach in a targeted anti-Semitic attack.
Police have revealed five young women walking along Glenayr Avenue, two streets back from the beachfront, were pelted with eggs at 9.30pm on Saturday before the offenders fled in a silver Mazda.
The car was later picked up on New South Head Rd, Vaucluse, where it was spotted “driving erratically” before pulling into a Rose Bay side street and slamming into the kerb.
Three occupants were seen running from the banged-up car, which by officers from the Eastern Suburbs police command subsequently seized.
An empty jerry can was found inside the vehicle, which was left with the keys in the ignition and its engine running, along with two cartons of eggs, one empty.
Strike Force Pearl commander Detective Superintendent Darren Newman he was concerned fuel may have been poured elsewhere prior to the car being dumped.
“Some people genuinely do drive around with jerry cans at night because their fuel gauges don’t work and things like that. However, I’m certainly concerned,” he said.
Det Supt Newman said police believed the women were targeted based on “clothing worn by those young ladies”, with the case being investigated under Strike Force Pearl as an anti-Semitic attack.
Officers are also “not ruling out” a link to graffiti discovered in Randwick and Kingsford on Sunday morning.
The culprits remained at large on Sunday afternoon after police were unable to locate the trio despite establishing a perimeter around the crash site and bringing in the dog unit.
The vehicle hadn’t been reported stolen and detectives are following up with its owner. The occupants of a Maroubra property the car was registered to “were not able to assist” police in identifying who has possession of the Mazda when it was found.
“Can I just say to those individuals that were in that car last night, it might be best if you come forward straight away because we will track you down,” Det Supt Newman said.
“What you’ve done is highly offensive, it’s criminal, and we will do everything we possibly can to try and locate you.
“If you want to hand yourself in, I’m more than open for you to do that, but we will find out who you are.”
The incidents overnight take the number of investigations under Strike Force Pearl, which is dedicated to investigating and disrupting recent anti-Semitic attacks, to 12.
Upwards of 40 detectives are working on the 12 cases, with more than 20 investigators deployed to canvass the two streets daubed with graffiti.
Officers from the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command are investigating the attack.
Meanwhile, Jewish leaders expressed fear anti-Semitism was “out of control” after police thwarted the potential firebombing and residents woke up to yet more graffiti plastered across their homes and cars.
Residents of both See Lane in Kingsford and King Lane in Randwick woke to find their fences, garage doors and vehicles parked on the street daubed with the phrase “f**k Jews”.
The two streets are about 3km apart.
It comes just three days after similar slurs were spray-painted on school property and a nearby home at Mount Sinai College, a Jewish private school in Maroubra.
Police were also called that day to a home in Eastlakes and to Eastgardens shopping centre, where targeted messages calling for violence toward the Jewish community were discovered scrawled across the entrance.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin, whose former home was attacked earlier this month, said the latest incidents marked “another bad night in Sydney” for the Jewish community, and were “further evidence of a situation out of control”.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the events overnight are “despicable”, and confirmed the organisation has been in contact with law enforcement.
“Cars and homes were defaced with hate speech for the sole purpose of intimidating and terrorising the Jewish community and destabilising Sydney’s social harmony,” he said.
“It is incumbent upon society as a whole not to become desensitised to this campaign of domestic terrorism.
“This is not normal. This isn’t the Australia we know and love.”
Mr Ossip called for penalties to be strengthened in response to the attacks.
A NSW Police spokeswoman confirmed police were investigating the “offensive graffiti” found on Sunday morning and had established crime scenes on the streets targeted.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Police and Counter-Terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley said anyone who had information about the vandalism had “an absolute duty to report it to the police”.
“An active police investigation is currently underway into these recent incidents in Kingsford and Randwick,” the spokeswoman said.
“Racism, bigotry and antisemitism are abhorrent. They are affronts to the values of the vast majority of decent Australians.
“We will not tolerate such expressions of hatred in our community.
“The public can be assured that NSW Police will not rest until those responsible are found and locked up.”
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