Australian state commits more police to investigate antisemitic crime
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An Australian state was committing more police to investigate a spate of antisemitic crimes, officials said on Tuesday after a childcare center was torched near a Sydney synagogue. The childcare center a block from a synagogue in a suburb of Maroubra was also spray-painted with anti-Jewish graffiti before it was set alight early Tuesday, police said. The building was extensively damaged, but police said no one was hurt.
The arson is the latest in a spate of targeted attacks in Australia’s largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023. Sydney and Melbourne are home to 85% of Australia’s Jewish population. The fires and other attacks have targeted buildings and cars, and one person suffered burn injuries in the fire that was set at a Melbourne synagogue in December.
Acting New South Police Wales Police Commissioner Peter Thurtell said Strike Force Pearl, which was formed several months ago to investigate antisemitic crimes in Sydney, “will have its resources increased as of today.”. “We already have significant resources, but incidents like this highlight the fact that we need to keep putting the resources in to ensure that these offenders are identified and arrested and put before the court,” Thurtell told reporters.
“These are criminals who are out to destroy our society and we, as the New South Wales Police Force, will do whatever we have to ensure that these people are arrested,” he added. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said state and federal resources were being directed at solving antisemitic crime.
