In the last month, threats have been made to “strangle a Rabbi” and a young Jewish man was assaulted on the way home from synagogue.
The Jewish community in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is boosting security following “disturbing” outbreaks of antisemitism.
The Federal Government has given the community $5.7m which will be spent on CCTV, fences and bollards, armed security guards and more.
Co chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, said the cash was needed for protection as there are almost daily local incidents “that don’t make the news”.
In the last month alone threats have been made to “strangle a Rabbi” and a young Jewish man was assaulted on the way home from synagogue, he said.
Describing the latter of the incidents, he said: “On Friday evening, October 11, a young Jewish man in the eastern suburbs wearing a kippah (religious head covering) was on his way home from youth services at his synagogue.
“His assailant yelled ‘You f***ing Jew’ at him’.
“That same week, a person passing a Jewish school in the eastern suburbs stated to security personnel that she was going to ‘strangle the Rabbi’.”
The Federal Government has handed out $5.7 million to Jewish schools and synagogues in the eastern suburbs for protection.
“The security measures are necessary for (Jewish communities) to be safer, not just to feel safer,” Mr Wertheim said.
Read the article by Joanna Panagopoulos in The Daily Telegraph (Wentworth Courier).