ABC asks: are Woollahra attacks anti-Semitic?

The host of ABC Radio Sydney’s breakfast program challenged NSW Premier Chris Minns on whether the attacks in the city’s eastern suburbs on Wednesday morning were anti-Semitic.

ABC presenter Chris Taylor and the Woollahra attack

The host of ABC Radio Sydney’s breakfast program has challenged NSW Premier Chris Minns on whether the attacks in the city’s eastern suburbs on Wednesday morning were anti-Semitic.

Broadcaster and comedian Chris Taylor, who was filling-in for regular ABC Sydney breakfast host Craig Reucassel on Wednesday, asked Mr Minns how he made a distinction between an anti-Semitic act, and one that was “simply a group taking a political stance against Israel in the current Middle East conflict”.

Taylor asked Mr Minns: “Just on your wording in your statement this morning, what’s your reasoning for branding the attack anti-Semitic and not anti-Israel? How do you make a distinction?”

NSW Premier Chris Minns at the scene of the attack in Sydney’s east on Wednesday. Picture: Rohan Kelly

The Premier replied: “The location of the crime, the suggestion that they should kill Israel, the sequence of events following the burning down of the synagogue in Melbourne, the attacks in Sydney of several weeks ago, the demonstrations outside religious institutions – I mean, I think we would have to be wilful at this point to turn a blind eye to that sequence of events and suggest it’s anything other than an anti-Semitic attack.

“And I want to make it clear if there was an attack on any other community group in NSW on the basis of their religion or on the basis of their nationality, then I would say exactly the same thing.”

A car that was set ablaze in Woollahra in the early hours of Wednesday. Picture: Supplied

Taylor continued: “So if you’re calling it anti-Semitic rather than just a political anti-Israel statement … would you say anti-Semitism is at an all-time high in your experience?”

Mr Minns: “Yes, I would.”

The Premier abruptly wound up the interview with the ABC, apologising to Taylor that he had a “very business morning”, and ended the call.

Taylor’s five-minute interview with the Premier had begun with Taylor expressing concern over the attacks.

“It’s getting alarming now, isn’t it? When it’s a one-off you might be able to say ‘OK, that’s an isolated attack, nothing to worry too much about’,” Taylor put to Mr Minns.

“Then we have the Melbourne synagogue attack, now we have this happening in Woollahra again. Are you concerned this is escalating beyond a level anyone can really imagine?”

The Premier replied: “I’m concerned about it, I don’t think there’s any point in sugar-coating it. It is a worry. We need to have a zero tolerance when we do confront it.”

Taylor later said people in Woollahra and surrounding areas were “rightly … starting to feel a little bit scared”.

The Australian asked the ABC if the national broadcaster accepted that the Woollahra attacks were anti-Semitic.

A spokesperson said: “The very first reference to the incident by fill-in ABC Sydney Breakfast presenter Chris Taylor at 5:37am this morning referred to anti-Semitism twice.”