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Jewish community leaders call for tougher penalties following more antisemitic attacks
ABC NEWS (Australia)
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1/14/2025
A warning - this next story includes vision of Nazi symbols. Police are investigating another alleged incident of antisemitic graffiti amid calls for tougher penalties
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00:00
There's been several incidents of anti-Semitic behaviour reported to police and widely in
00:07
the media in the last couple of days in the inner west of Sydney recently.
00:12
Among them, and perhaps most concerningly, a synagogue was daubed with several swastikas
00:16
and other anti-Semitic commentary, as well as accelerant, a clear liquid that was present
00:21
at the scene and did take a light for a brief period before being extinguished, with police
00:26
still investigating that matter.
00:28
Then on Monday, police reported that anti-Semitic graffiti was noticed near one of the largest
00:34
train stations in the council area.
00:37
All of that has led Mayor Darcy Byrne to describe the current situation as a tinderbox with
00:42
real fears over the safety of Jewish people in the area.
00:46
The situation now is like a tinderbox.
00:48
We've seen an attempted firebombing of a synagogue on the weekend, and if we don't act to stamp
00:53
this out, it's not just that this is disrespectful or anti-Semitic, it's dangerous.
00:59
And we can't wait until someone's hurt.
01:01
Elsewhere we've seen interjections at both the state and federal level of politics.
01:06
Federal opposition member Julian Leeser says he wants to see people charged with hate crimes,
01:11
particularly anti-Semitic commentary, face minimum jail time as a result, as a mandatory
01:17
consequence of those offences if convicted.
01:20
However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday called on that idea, saying that law enforcement
01:25
was largely a responsibility of state and territory jurisdictions, and it wasn't the
01:30
place of the federal government here.
01:32
However, he did say this kind of conduct, particularly commentary regarding Jewish people
01:38
and the invoking of Hitler as well as Nazi symbols, is a disgusting and hateful thing
01:43
to occur and only seeks to divide what is otherwise a cohesive society in Australia.
01:49
The Australian Federal Police say at the moment there's a hundred open investigations
01:53
into reports of attacks of anti-Semitism within the country right now.
01:59
Also within New South Wales, counter-terrorism officers are leading several investigations
02:04
into anti-Semitic incidents, both here in the inner west and at another synagogue late
02:09
last week, which was defaced with swastikas and the invocation of Nazi insignia and regalia.
02:15
While it appears local council, state government and federal government all seem to be on the
02:20
same page regarding the calls for peace and cohesion, we have seen some developments recently
02:25
at the state government level.
02:26
Over the weekend, $340,000 was made available to the Jewish Board of Deputies to protect
02:33
particular sites, including synagogues, as well as Jewish schools, with extra temporary
02:38
security in what the state government believes is a heightened risk period for anti-Semitic
02:43
behaviour and attacks.
02:45
For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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