Albanese calls for unity to ‘consign the evil of anti-Semitism to history’ as Jewish community lives in fear

A visibly emotional Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday pledged $8.5 million to upgrade the Sydney Jewish Museum, and called for unity “to consign the evil of anti-Semitism to history.”

Speaking inside the institution that teaches visitors about the Holocaust, Mr Albanese “unequivocally” condemned another “shameful attack” which saw a car torched and anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed in a prominent Jewish suburb of Sydney in the early hours of the morning.

Police are looking for two suspects, believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, who were seen fleeing the scene.

The incident was “aimed at promoting fear in the community” that at its core “is terrorism,” Mr Albanese said.

Earlier this week, the government announced the launch of a police task force on anti-Semitism following the firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs which is now being treated as terrorism.

Mr Albanese said the synagogue attack in Melbourne “sends shivers down the spine of all Australians”.

“We’re a tolerant country ... and we will work with all authorities to make sure that the perpetrators of these crimes will be brought to justice.”

But an anxious Jewish community has slammed the government for taking too little action, too late to curb domestic anti-Semitism in the wake of 2023’s Hamas October 7 terrorist atrocity that triggered Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

“The rising tide of antisemitism must end now,” Amir Maimon, Israel’s ambassador to Australia said on X as Jewish Australians reeled from the latest overnight arson attack, just days after Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in was set alight.

Australian Jewish leaders say their communities are hiding in fear in the run-up to Hanukkah after the latest anti-Semitic attack in Sydney, calling on the government to take tougher measures to stamp out the escalating security crisis.

Jewish Australians could no longer freely celebrate the upcoming festival of Hanukkah - which overlaps this year with Christmas - and were taking measures to protect themselves, community leaders told The Nightly, slamming “the failure of political leadership and the failure of law enforcement.”

A string of anti-Semitic threats and attacks against Jewish businesses, people, and schools, had instilled a sense of dread rather than joy over Hanukkah, Judaism’s ‘festival of lights’, said Australian Jewish Association President David Adler.

“There is a proportion of the Jewish community who are genuinely fearful..who feel that they cannot, at the moment, exercise their freedom of religion. It’s having a huge impact,” he said.

Mr Adler visited the office of a Sydney synagogue on Wednesday morning after the latest act of arson and anti-Semitic graffiti in city’s Woollahra suburb had left him “sick to the stomach.”

He was told there that “some of the volunteers that assist with their [Hanukkah] event or attend the event have called in saying that they’re too scared to do so.”

Since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist assault on Israel last year, security had been beefed up around Australia’s Jewish schools, synagogues and community centres, including armed guards and barriers to prevent vehicle-borne attacks or unauthorised entry, he said.

“For a while, Jewish facilities have required security, but certainly there’s been upgrades since the seventh of October, and likely, in the near future, further upgrades,” said Mr Adler, who has faced personal death threats online and by mail in the past few months.

“This is not how life should be in a democracy,” he said. “It’s as if we see Australia crumbling before our very eyes. Anti-Semitism throughout history has been associated with a decline of society.”

Menachem Vorchheimer, a leading Jewish community advocate from Melbourne, said people were altering their behaviour out of a sense of self-preservation.

Hanukkah parties and communal events no longer publicised their locations in advance and attendees now had to apply online and undergo vetting, he revealed.

“I don’t know if I want to go to events where I’m hiding behind closed doors. The ability to just make a last-minute decision to turn up to a Hanukkah party, we can’t do that anymore,” he said.

Data compiled by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry shows a startling increase in the number of anti-Jewish incidents over the past year.

Acts of physical assault, vandalism, verbal abuse, and incidents of anti-Jewish messages, graffiti and posters rose nationwide from 495 in 2023 to 2,062 in 2024.

Fresh anti-Semitic vandalism, including the offensive slogan “Hitler was right”, was discovered at a construction site in Sydney’s Arncliffe on Wednesday afternoon.

Both Mr Adler and Mr Vorchheimer blamed the lack of swift government action and tough law enforcement against anti-Semitic behaviour, extremist hate speech, and inflammatory rallies in the immediate aftermath of October 7 for allowing the current crisis to snowball.

“This government is great at symbolism, poor at action, and poor at leadership,” said Mr Vorchheimer. “We’re lost for words, because we feel abandoned by the government.”

He pointed to ASIO Chief Mike Burgess’ warning on October 12, 2023 that “words matter” as the intelligence community had seen “direct connections between inflamed language and inflamed community tensions.”

The government at a Federal and State level had “chosen to ignore this warning,” said Mr Vorchheimer.

Home Minister Tony Burke on Wednesday insisted “concrete actions have been coming thick and fast,” including legislation passed this year to make it illegal to use Nazi symbols, salutes and other hate symbols.

“We passed the laws against doxxing. We passed fresh terror laws, and we also have laws before the Parliament right now on criminal offences for hate speech and vilification,” he told the ABC.

But Mr Vorchheimer said Jewish Australians wanted to see tougher enforcement of existing laws.

Mr Adler agreed. “There are laws against incitement, which have not been enforced on the hate preaching which has occurred in some of the more radical mosques,” he alleged.

More action must also be taken to eradicate anti-Semitism and radical activism that left Jews feeling unsafe on university campuses, Mr Adler added.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last weekend tied Labor’s “anti-Israel attitude” to the firebombing of the Melbourne synagogue – an accusation the Government strongly refutes.

His comments followed a recent UN vote where Australia joined 156 other countries to demand Israel end its “unlawful presence” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“We would agree with that (Netanyahu) to an extent, that this has been the most hostile to Israel government in the history of Australia,” said Mr Adler.

The uptick in violence against Jewish Australians has put the Albanese government on the backfoot and ignited a political firestorm between Labor and the Coalition.

The mudslinging continued on Wednesday as the Coalition stepped up its attack at the Government, accusing it of “emboldening and enabling” the rise in anti-Semitic attacks as the Prime Minister called for unity.

Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume said the prime minister’s “equivocation” on anti-Semitism and Israel had led to the recent crimes.

“The Jewish community… have been looking for leadership on this issue for a considerable period of time now, since the October 7 attacks, and because the Government has prevaricated… because it has used weasel words and wishy-washy language, it does seem (that way)” she told ABC Radio.

It was the latest in a string of political attacks, which included Peter Dutton allegedly blocking a Liberal senator from speaking on local Labor MP Josh Burns’ behalf outside the Adass Israel Synagogue on Friday.

“This is not a time for looking for distinction and for difference… We need to work together,” Mr Albanese hit back on Wednesday.

“I understand that politics can interfere in things, but we need to, wherever possible, look for unity.”

He defended the steps his Government had taken in addressing the rising scourge of anti-Semitism – although he failed to call it a “crisis”.

He denied suggestions the Woollahra attacks were anti-Israel, not anti-Semitic.

“This is about Jewish Australians,” he said.

In the wake of the synagogue firebombing, the Coalition had criticised Mr Albanese for taking four days to visit Melbourne.

“I would love to be in more than one place at once,” he said, as he reinforced that he had been engaging with police, state leaders, local politicians and the synagogue itself throughout the weekend.

He also knocked back criticism of his Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, who had come under fire for a speech she gave this week where she denied demanding Israel uphold international law was anti-Semitic.

Mr Albanese said it was “not anti-Semitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law that applies to all countries”.

Local Sydney MP, independent Allegra Spender said the community was “outraged” after Wednesday’s incident.

“It is unacceptable, and we need to really push very, very hard to make sure everybody who is part of these attacks are held to account, go to jail, and make sure these things are not tolerated in this community,” she said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns described the anti-Semitic incident as a “hate crime” and “a violent act of destruction… designed to strike fear” which he vowed to meet with a “full” police response.

He announced police would be equipped with the same level of resources they were granted in the wake of October 7, to “ensure that the public feel safe at a time of heightened community tension”.

Commissioner Karen Webb said that would mean “increased patrols, increased engagement with the community, and a very high, visible police presence”.

“Police will be out there, and the community can expect to see officers that will come up and speak to people,” she said.

Mr Adler said the Jewish community supported the government’s initiative to create a new police task force but that the “jury is still out.”

But despite growing insecurity, Jewish Australians remained resilient, he insisted.

“We encourage people to comply with the security guidelines, but to go about your life - continue to wear your Star of David, if that’s what you want to do. If you’re male, wear a kippah on your head if you wish to go to the synagogue, as you normally would. Our view is to not hide in the basement.”