Antisemitic graffiti condemned
JEWISH leaders have expressed their outrage after a string of swastikas and antisemitic remarks were daubed across Sydney late last month.
JEWISH leaders have expressed their outrage after a string of swastikas and antisemitic remarks were daubed across Sydney late last month.
The most worrying incident was at Epping where the back of a Thai restaurant was plastered with the words “watch out Jews” and “kill Jews”, along with swastikas and SS insignia.
The graffiti was reportedly left unattended to for more than a month, before police were alerted.
“I am appalled by this distasteful and offensive act,” City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Andrew Wilson told The AJN.
A council spokesperson said a graffiti removal team was on-site within 60 minutes of being notified.
Federal Member for Bennelong John Alexander, who helped remove the graffiti, said the vandalism was both “hateful and unwanted in our community”.
“There is no place in Bennelong for horrifically divisive views of this kind, I condemn this graffiti in the strongest possible terms,” Alexander said.
“I’m proud of our dynamic multicultural community, where all the diverse communities contribute positively to our Australian character.”
Noting the substantial Jewish community that lives in Sydney’s north, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said, “This will certainly foster a sense of unease, particularly among older members of the community, many of whom are themselves survivors of the Holocaust, the very genocide that is glorified in this graffiti.”
In a separate incident, the words “Jew” and “Jews” were scrawled across a footpath and set of stairs in North Bondi, along with an arrow leading to the word “poo”.
Local resident Ronit Shaki, who reported the graffiti, told The AJN it was an extremely upsetting sight.
“I felt like it [had] taken me back to the time of my grandmothers, who were both Holocaust survivors, and what they might have experienced in the 1930s,” she said.
“My concern is that my children use that staircase to come home from school every day and I didn’t want them to have to see that or feel any fear.”
In February, Bondi Beach was defaced with approximately 20 swastikas.
“In light of murderous attacks on Jews in Pittsburgh and Muslims in Christchurch by those professing far-right views, it is vital that government and law enforcement does everything possible to monitor far-right activities, particularly online, where much of this hatred is distributed and reinforced with deadly consequences,” Ryvchin said.
To report antisemitism, call CSG on 1300 000 274 (1300 000 CSG).
AJN STAFF
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