Rabbi defiant as police charge Sydney man over alleged threats outside synagogue

As a man is charged over a threatening gun gesture outside Rabbi Nochum Schapiro’s synagogue, the religious leader vows to proudly embrace Jewish identity in the face of hate.

‘We will not back down of our pride of who we are as Jews,’ says Rabbi Nochum Schapiro at Chabad North Shore Synagogue in Sydney. Picture: Nikki Short

The senior rabbi of the Sydney synagogue allegedly targeted by a 20-year-old man making a threatening “gun gesture” has warned of the dangers an incremental increase in anti-Semitic behaviour but says the Jewish community will not bow to such attacks.

Rabbi Nochum Schapiro, who leads Chabad North Shore Synagogue, said such incidents emboldened his community to be “proud Jews, and display their ­Judaism in a stronger way, because we’re not going to cower, we’re not going to be intimidated”.

Video stills of a man making a ‘threatening gesture’ outside a synagogue in St Ives, Sydney. Picture: Seven News

The alleged offender was arrested by police at his North Turramurra home in Sydney’s upper north shore on Monday night and charged with stalk or intimidate with an intent to cause fear of physical harm after the incident in St Ives on Saturday, January 4, along Link Road.

He was granted conditional bail and will appear at Hornsby Local Court on January 29.

Despite the community feeling “appalled” by the incident, Rabbi Schapiro said they would continue to “be proud of who we are” and will not “back down of our pride of who we are as Jews and being able to live in an open and free society as Australia”.

Rabbi Schapiro said the incident was already “disgusting” when viewed in a vacuum but “becomes disturbing” when considering “the context of everything else going on”, coming the day after the defacing of a car in Sydney’s east at Queens Park with anti-Semitic graffiti, and multiple spates of ­targeted vandalism in nearby Woollahra.

“Every day you put on the news, and you see another act of anti-Semitism, and some people start thinking … how did it all start in Germany?” Rabbi Schapiro said. “People are asking the question … at what point do we say … we don’t know where this is going?”

“It’s unsettling.”

Rabbi Schapiro said anti-Semitism “is becoming acceptable for many in broader society” as hateful sentiments are spreading through “college campuses … the streets … (and) nothing’s been done about it by the state government, federal government”.

“The NSW Premier has said the right words from October 7th, he’s always said the right thing, but I don’t think that enough has been done,” he said.

The most recent incident occurs as Hanukkah only recently ended, during which the community celebrated Jewish pride.

Anthony Albanese addressed other incidents of alleged threats against Australia’s Jewish community in an interview with the Seven Network on Tuesday.

“We should be opposed, and are, as a country to any form of ­racism, but particularly to anti-Semitism. We are a tolerant country that has got to have respect for every person, regardless of their faith and regardless of their ethnicity,” the Prime Minister said.

“We’re addressing in every single way possible these issues because we understand it is very hurtful for the Jewish community. And at its worst, what we’ve seen is significant crimes developed.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chair Alex Ryvchin pointed to the distressing rise in frequency of anti-Semitic rhetoric and arrests.

“Yet another appalling incident that shows the levels of hatred felt towards our community and a willingness to publicly express it,” Mr Ryvchin said. “Until there are severe consequences in terms of both the law and social exclusion for anti-Jewish racists, this will get worse and worse.”