Australian police launch a special operation to investigate increased antisemitic attacks

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Australian federal police launched a special operation to investigate an increase in antisemitic threats and violence since the war between Israel and Hamas began last year.

Jewish leaders say prejudice against their community has reached unprecedented levels, with most incidents reported in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest cities where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population live.

Almost 117,000 Jewish people live in Australia, according to the last census in 2021, or 0.46% of the 25.4 million residents. The government says only Israel is home to more Holocaust survivors than Australia on a per capita basis.

Here’s a look at some of the main cases investigated by Special Operation Avalite:

Police are looking for two male suspects, estimated to be aged between 15 and 20, seen running from Magney St. in Woollahra when a car fire was reported at 1 a.m.

Two cars including the one that burned had been graffitied. Two homes and the sidewalk had also been spray-painted with what police described as “antisemitic writing” that included an apparently misspelled “Kill Israiel.”

Woollahra is a center of Jewish life in Sydney and one of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation.

Not everyone who lives in Magney St. is Jewish and police say there is no evidence that Jewish residents were specifically targeted.

The Dec. 6 attack has been declared a terrorist act after authorities concluded there was a political motive. Police are searching for three suspects.

Two worshippers saw two men with their faces covered spreading a liquid accelerant around the building before it ignited.

Police have not said what role the third person played or whether they knew the suspects’ identities.

Police arrested two suspects who allegedly launched an hour-long rampage of anti-Israel destruction in a different part of Woollahra.

Police were alerted to a car fire in Wellington St. around 12:30 a.m. Two men with their faces covered were seen in CCTV spray-painting expletives and slogans referring to Israel on 10 cars in the vicinity of Wellington St., including the car that was burned.

They also graffitied three buildings including a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Matt Moran, who is not Jewish.

Mohammed Farhat, 20, was arrested on Nov. 25 at Sydney International Airport as he prepared to fly to Indonesia. His alleged accomplice Thomas Stojanovski, 19, was arrested at his home on Nov. 28.

Both remain in custody awaiting trial on multiple charges. They each face prison sentences of up to 10 years.

At least five people were seen near Josh Burns’ office in Barkly St. at about 3.20 a.m. when the attack occurred, police said.

They smashed windows and graffitied the outside of his office in red paint with the slogan: “Zionism is fascism.”

Investigators said small fires were lit in the telecommunications pits at the front of the building before the group ran from the scene.

Burns, a government lawmaker, said at the time that “no amount of aggression” would “change what’s happening in the Middle East.”