Sydney Shooting Highlights Rising Anti-Semitism in Australia
SIDNEY – A few days after the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, where about 1,200 people died and which began the war in the Gaza Strip, an inverted triangle spray-painted red appeared on the facade of a Jewish bakery in Sydney. It was just the first in a string of anti-Semitic incidents throughout Australia.
Sixteen months and thousands of fires, explosions, graffiti and hate speech incidents later, the head of Australia’s main intelligence agency declared that, in terms of threats to life, anti-Semitism was at the top of his concerns and priorities.
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Sunday’s mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach,Sydney,where one person was killed and several injured,brought to life the fear that many Australian Jews say they have long felt: that they are no longer safe in a country that is supposed to protect them.
“It is the Jewish community’s worst nightmare come true,” co-chair of the Executive Council of Australian Judaism, Alex Ryvchin told Sky News. “It’s something that has been latent for a long time, and now it has emerged.”