‘Deeply troubling’: Albo responds to anti-Israel attack in Sydney’s east after cars defaced, one torched

Labor and the Liberals have come together to condemn an anti-Israel attack in Sydney, warning Australia is being “tested” like never before.

Emergency services responded after a car was set on fire on Wellington St in Woollahra shortly after midnight on Thursday.

While Fire and Rescue NSW was able to extinguish the fire, police found up to a dozen cars graffitied with anti-Israel messages.

Cars were covered in white spray paint that read “f**k Israel”, while at least three premises were also targeted.

Labor MP Josh Burns, whose grandmother fled Nazi Germany, and Liberal senator Dave Sharma came together on Thursday to condemn the attack.

“The violence we saw in the eastern suburbs of Sydney overnight should be condemned and has no place in a modern Australia,” Mr Burns said.

“This happened right in the heart of Sydney’s Jewish community … to people who, frankly, do not deserve to be the target of this sort of violence.”

In joining with Mr Sharma, Mr Burns said “this is above politics” and instead “about making Australians feel safe in their homes and in their streets”.

For his part, Mr Sharma said the attack was designed to “menace, intimidate, and silence one group of Australians” and the Jewish community felt besieged.

“What we saw in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last night, and frankly what we’ve seen in Australia over the past 14 months, is a test of our nation,” Mr Sharma said.

“It is testing out nation in a way I haven't seen before in my lifetime, and it’s incredibly important that we all co-operate to put this environment behind us.”

Mr Sharma warned against differences of opinion being “weaponised and used in force or violence against other Australians”.

“I obviously disagree quite fundamentally with some of the positions this government has taken on Israel and the support to the conflict more broadly,” he said.

“But, I would distinguish that from what we’re seeing domestically.

“It is quite legitimate for us to have different points of view about how that conflict should be managed and what Australia’s position should be on it.

“But what we have historically always been strict at maintaining and enforcing in Australia is making sure that overseas conflicts are not allowed to spill out into Australia.”

Several premises were targeted in the attack, including the door of a unit complex on Ocean St and the Matt Moran-owned restaurant Chiswick.

The celebrated restaurateur, who attended the site on Thursday morning, said it was “incredibly disappointing to see this amount of vandalism”.

“There’s no place for it in our community. We are co-operating with the relevant authorities in their investigation,” he told The Australian.

He said the store had been cleaned and would open as normal.

Eastern Suburbs commander Detective Acting Superintendent Adam Solah earlier told the media two people were captured on CCTV fleeing the scene.

They were described as wearing dark clothing, face masks and hooded tops, with one person wearing a Nike jumper.

Superintendent Solah called the attack “brazen” and “offensive”.

“These are people’s houses that they live in. These are people’s cars,” he said.

“Hate crime won’t be tolerated (and) any behaviour that incites violence, we will investigate that”.

Superintendent Solah said the alleged offenders acted “under the cover of darkness without anyone being aware”.

He said items had been seized from the site of the torched car and witnesses had already come forward.

In addition to anti-Israel slogans, cars were graffitied with a message reading “PKK coming”.

The meaning of the message is unknown but would appear to be a reference to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is considered by Australia to be a terrorist organisation.

Superintendent Solah said those messages would form part of the investigation.

“I’m aware of that graffiti that you’re talking about. That will form part of our line inquiry,” he said when asked about the slogans.

“We’re going to determine why that was spray painted on vehicles … the motivation for that and what was spray painted, that’s a key line of inquiry at the moment.”

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), the Israeli Embassy said it was “appalled by the anti-Semitic attack in Sydney last night”.

“Words are no longer enough – it’s time for action,” the post continued.

“We stand with the Jewish community and call for immediate measures to protect and uphold the rights and safety of all citizens.”

Anthony Albanese described the attack as “deeply troubling” and urged people not to make “a platform for prejudice at home”.

The Prime Minister on Thursday morning said he had seen the “images of last night’s act of anti-Semitism in Sydney” and called the incident “disturbing”.

“These are disturbing scenes and deeply troubling to all Australians,” Mr Albanese said.

“There is no place for anti-Semitism in Australia. Conflict overseas cannot be made a platform for prejudice at home.”

He said he had “trust in our law enforcement agencies to deal with this”.

The cars had been parked along Wellington, Tara, Fullerton and Ocean streets.

The door of a unit complex in Ocean St had also been graffitied, police said.

The windows of Sydney’s famed Chiswick restaurant were also targeted in the attack, with the words “f**k Israel” scrawled across them.

Senior Coalition senator James Paterson has also weighed in, calling it “absolutely terrifying” and warning it signalled a “terrible new development in Australia”.

“We have been relatively violence free, despite the significant intimidation of the Jewish community and others,” he told Sky News.

“We have not seen acts of violence like this before, and if there are people in Australia who think it’s appropriate to engage in that kind of behaviour in response to incidents overseas, we have to come down very hard with the full force of the law to deter others from repeating these kind of behaviours.”

Australian Jewry executive council co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the anti-Israel movement had been growing “progressively more extreme, more violent and more indifferent to who it harms”.

“It wasn’t stopped at the Opera House steps. It wasn’t stopped at the pro-Hamas encampments, and it wasn’t stopped at the hate preachers,” he said.

“Now Australians are waking up to find their property destroyed and their suburbs violated.”

Robert Gregory from the Australian Jewish Association said he hoped the police would dedicate “significant resources” to catch the offenders.

“At this stage, we expect the police will be treating this case with the utmost severity, which I assume they are, and establishing a taskforce and dedicating significant resources to bring a stop to these ugly incidents on our streets,” he told NewsWire on Thursday morning.

“There is a lot of fear in the community.

“There is the thought that, if the police wanted to, if the authorities wanted to, they could be taking more action.

“There should have been more arrests (over the past 13 months).”

Mr Gregory warned that Jewish Australians were beginning to leave the country in response to the recent explosion in anti-Semitism.

“I know personally several people who have moved to Israel from Australia, because they are worried about the future here,” he said.

Police have established crime scenes, and anyone who has knowledge of the incidents, or who was in the area at the time, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.