Politicians from both sides have thrown their support behind Australia’s Jewish community after a spate of anti-Semitic vandalism.
A mural on the promenade of Sydney’s eastern Bondi Beach was defaced with swastikas for the second time in two months while “Kill Jews” was scrawled across benches in the northwestern suburb of Top Ryde.
Meanwhile, in Victoria a swastika was spray-painted on the concrete outside the office of a Jewish lawyer in inner-city Melbourne.
The victim, who is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, said he was shaken by the incident.
“I was sickened and saddened to see a swastika brazenly graffitied on the front window of my building in the heart of Melbourne’s legal precinct this week,” he said.
“What was most shocking for me was watching the many thousands who walk past my building each day, including members of the judiciary, seemingly oblivious to the anti-Semitic imagery.”
Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said many within the Jewish community were feeling under attack recently but felt too scared to speak publicly about the issue.
Read the article by Remy Varga in The Australian.