Australia struggles to address a surge in antisemitic attacks

Australia is grappling with a surge in antisemitic attacks that has prompted dozens of arrests across the country in what its leaders say is a “national crisis.”

With homes vandalized, synagogues on fire and residents on edge, Australia is grappling with a surge in antisemitic attacks that has prompted dozens of arrests across the country in what its leaders say is a “national crisis.”

Australian lawmakers and experts say there has been a rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023.

Between the start of the war and September 2024, there were more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in Australia, three times the figure for the same period a year earlier, according to a report in December by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the Australian affiliate of the World Jewish Congress.

Over the past 16 months, Jewish Australians have faced “an unprecedented rise in antisemitism across the country,” according to a parliamentary inquiry report tabled Wednesday.

Homes, cars and schools have been set on fire or spray-painted with anti-Israel messages, and there have been arson attacks against a synagogue in Melbourne and a child care center in Sydney. Last month, police said they had disrupted a potential antisemitic attack after they discovered a caravan containing explosives in a Sydney suburb.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/australia-struggles-address-surge-antisemitic-attacks-rcna192173

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