Alleged antisemitic attack in Australia less than two weeks after terror attack
Kyiv • UNN
A car with the words "Happy Chanukah" was set on fire in a Melbourne suburb early on Christmas morning. The suspected antisemitic incident occurred less than two weeks after a terror attack in Sydney that killed 15 people.
A car with the inscription "Happy Chanukah!" was set on fire during Christmas morning in a Melbourne suburb in Australia, UNN reports with reference to The Guardian.
Details
An antisemitic incident is suspected. It happened less than two weeks after a terrorist attack targeting members of the Jewish community celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, where 15 people died.
Police said emergency services were called to a car with a mobile billboard that was set on fire in the driveway of a house in St Kilda East around 2:50 a.m. local time.
Guardian Australia saw images of the damaged car with the inscription "Happy Chanukah!".
No one was in the car at the time of the incident, but residents of the house were evacuated as a precaution, police said.
"Detectives have identified a person who may be able to assist in their investigation and they are actively searching for and investigating their whereabouts," police said.
CSG Victoria noted the presence of a menorah symbol on the car - a nine-branched candelabrum associated with the celebration of Hanukkah.
It confirmed that no community members were harmed in the incident and is in close contact with the police.
"CSG has already been operating at an enhanced level with an increased number of patrols and will continue to do so," the organization said in an Instagram post.
Naomi Levin, CEO of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, said the "Australian Jewish community remains on edge."
"This is a continuation of the daily fear the Jewish community has had to live with for the past two years, and even more so after Bondi," Levin said.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said in an online statement that police had informed her of what "the community rightly fears is an antisemitic incident."
"This is not what any family, street or community deserves to wake up to on Christmas in Australia," Allan said.
She said police were working closely with community leaders to investigate the incident.
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said: "ECAJ understands that the bombing in Melbourne this morning is an isolated incident and that the Melbourne Jewish community is no longer under threat."
The Prime Minister said in a statement published online: "Australia's Jewish community is grieving after the terrorist attack in Bondi. The car bombing in Melbourne is another horrific act of suspected antisemitism."