The Second Synagogue in Sydney, Australia, is defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti Religion News

Australia has seen a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the past year, including graffiti on buildings and cars.

A synagogue in Sydney has been painted Anti-Semitic writingsPolice said, a day after anti-Semitic vandalism at a separate synagogue in the New South Wales state capital.

According to police officials, vandals painted red swastikas outside the entrance to an inner-city synagogue early Saturday, while a house in Sydney’s rich east was spray-painted with anti-Jewish slurs.

The incident comes a day after an attack on the synagogue in southern Sydney in the suburb of Alaa in the early hours of Friday morning. A special police force was formed to investigate the incident later on Friday.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday, referring to the synagogue incident in southern Sydney: “(There is) no place in Australia, our tolerant, multicultural society, for this type of criminal activity.”

State Premier Chris Means added: “These people are determined to divide our community in two.”

“We will always condemn these actions for what they are – brutal and horrific.”

Australia has seen a series of Anti-Semitic incidents Last year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney, as well as an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne that police ruled “terrorism”.

The attack on the Melbourne synagogue in December prompted the government to set up a federal task force targeting anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic incidents have increased in the country since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and Israel launched its war on Gaza.

Some Jewish organizations said the government did not take sufficient action in response.

Accidents have also happened Tense Australia’s relations with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Albanian Labor Party government of encouraging such attacks through “anti-Israel” policies.

“Unfortunately, this criminal act cannot be separated from the anti-Israel spirit blowing from the Labor government in Australia,” Netanyahu wrote in X in December, referring to the arson attack at a synagogue.

Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish, said Netanyahu was “completely wrong” in linking the attack to government policy.

“Australia remains as close a friend of Israel as we have been since the Labor government recognized the state of Israel when it was created by the United Nations,” Dreyfus told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the national broadcaster, last month.

“Now, that remains the position.”