Sydney daycare centre torched in antisemitic attack

Premier Chris Minns told Ben Fordham on radio 2GB the antisemitic attacks in Sydney were becoming more sophisticated – and dangerous.

“I think it begins with language, and I think that the incendiary language that’s heard in different parts of Sydney can eventually lead, maybe a month or two months down the line, lead to someone committing a violent attack on someone,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he “utterly condemned this evil hate crime”.

“My government will support NSW Police to hunt down the offenders and ensure they face the full force of the law through Operation Avalite,” Albanese said.

The blaze is yet another escalation in recent cases of antisemitic vandalism.

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Last week, the former home of prominent Jewish Australian Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin was targeted in a firebombing.

Two vehicles were set ablaze, multiple vehicles painted with antisemitic graffiti and the Dover Heights home splashed with red paint.

Upon seeing images of the burnt-out childcare centre on Tuesday morning, Ryvchin said families may no longer feel safe sending their children to daycare.

“To plan and execute the firebombing of a childcare centre requires a depth of savagery that is difficult to imagine. Today, families will be having conversations about whether it’s safe to send their children to the places where they should be safest,” he said.

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“Places of worship, homes and now preschools have all been targeted by domestic terrorists. Antisemitism consumes everything. It is the disease that is destroying our country.”

He also called for a national cabinet meeting on antisemitism.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the incident was the latest in a “domestic terrorism” campaign.

“These depraved and cowardly terrorists need to be swiftly apprehended, or we will continue to see an escalation of these acts of terror.”

NSW Minister for Multiculturalism Steve Kamper said the targeting of children was “unconscionable”.

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