SYDNEY: Vandals daubed anti-Israel graffiti in a Sydney suburb on Wednesday, police said, sparking “outrage” from Australia’s government days after a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze.
Police said they were seeking two people aged 15-20 who wore face coverings in relation to the incident, in which a car was also torched in the early hours.
Graffiti was spread over the burned car, another vehicle, two buildings and a footpath, state police said.
Images on local media showed the misspelled phrase “Kill Israiel” painted in black on a white wall in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, which has a long-established Jewish community.
A contractor painted over the graffiti soon afterwards.
“The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our country.”
The Australian leader said he would be briefed by a federal police task force that was set up this week to investigate anti-Semitic attacks.
Albanese had toured the charred remains of the Melbourne synagogue the day before, urging the country to unite in the face of the “evil” arson attack.
Counter-terror police are hunting for three suspects believed responsible for setting fire to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in the early hours of Friday.
The synagogue blaze was met with international condemnation, including from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused the Australian government of harboring “anti-Israel sentiment.”
The war in Gaza has sparked protests from supporters of Israel and Palestinians in cities around Australia, as in much of the world.
A body representing Australia’s Jewish community said the Sydney graffiti and car-burning was designed to “terrorize.”
“How long will this continue and with what horrors will it end?” asked Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
“We ask that you stand with us. March with us. Don’t let this evil tear our country to pieces.”
The New South Wales state premier, Chris Minns, said the Sydney incident was “shocking.”
“This is not the Sydney we want. These racist attempts to divide our city will not work,” the premier said.
The perpetrators “will be found and they will face the full force of the law,” he said.
Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’
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Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’
- “The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media
Russia jails 15 for life over IS-claimed 2024 concert hall attack
- Eleven other men were also jailed for life for acting as accomplices and of having terrorist links
- Four more men were handed sentences of between 19 and 22 years over their links with the attackers
MOSCOW: A Russian court on Thursday handed life sentences to four gunmen from Tajikistan, and 11 others it said were their accomplices, for the 2024 Crocus concert hall attack that left 150 people dead.
The March 2024 shooting spree was claimed by Daesh and was the deadliest militant attack in Russia in more than two decades.
Relatives of some of the victims stood in the grand Moscow military court as the verdict was read out.
Shamsidin Fariduni, Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Makhammadsobir Fayzov and Saidakrami Rachabolizoda — all Tajik citizens who went on a shooting spree in the building before setting it on fire — looked down as the judge sentenced them to life.
Eleven other men — some Russian citizens — were also jailed for life for acting as accomplices and of having terrorist links.
Four more men — including a father and his sons — were handed sentences of between 19 and 22 years over their links with the attackers.
The gunmen entered the concert hall shortly before a show by Soviet-era rock band Picnic. They went on a shooting spree before setting fire to the building, trapping many victims. The attack wounded more than 600 people. Six children were among those killed.
Uliana Filippochkina, whose twin brother Grigory was killed in the attack, flew from Siberia’s Novosibirsk for the verdict.
She said she was “satisfied” with the ruling and that she had looked the men who killed her twin in the eyes during their final statements in the trial.
“They didn’t explain anything, they tried to escape responsibility, appealing to the fact that they had wives and children... That they were under the influence of drugs,” she said.
- ‘No remorse’ -
“There was no sympathy or remorse whatsoever,” she added.
Her brother went to the concert shortly before his 35th birthday. The family were only able to identify what was left of his body weeks later, burying his remains in Novosibirsk.
The verdict came ahead of the second anniversary of the killings.
“For us all it’s like yesterday,” Ivan Pomorin, who was filming the Crocus Hall concert at the time, told AFP.
Lawyers said some of the victims are still being treated for their wounds, while others have severe PTSD, unable to sleep, use public transport or be in crowded places.
The four gunmen — aged 20 to 31 at the time — worked in various professions, among them was a taxi driver, factory employee and construction worker.
They stood in the glass defendant’s cage, surrounded by security guards.
According to media reports, Mirzoyev’s brother was killed fighting in Syria, possibly leading to his radicalization.
Hours after the attack, Russian police brought them to court with signs of torture — including one barely conscious in a wheelchair.
- ‘Redeem guilt with blood’ -
The attack came two years into Moscow’s war in Ukraine, with Russia — bogged down by the offensive — dismissing prior US warnings of an imminent attack.
The Kremlin had suggested a Ukrainian connection at the time of the attack, but never provided evidence.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said after the verdict it was “reliably established” that the attack was “planned and committed in the interests of” Kyiv.
It accused the men of also plotting attacks in Dagestan.
TASS state news agency reported this month, citing a lawyer, that two of them — Dzhabrail Aushyev and Khusein Medov — had asked to be sent to fight in Ukraine instead of a life sentence.
Throughout its offensive, Russia has recruited prisoners for its military campaign, offering a buy-out from their sentences should they survive.
According to the lawyer quoted by TASS, Medov said he wanted to “redeem his guilt with blood.”
- Anti-migrant turn -
Russia — already undergoing a conservative social turn during the war — upped anti-migrant laws and rhetoric after the attack.
This has led to tensions with Moscow’s allies in Central Asia, some of whom have confronted Russia and called on it to respect the rights of their citizens.
Russia’s economy has for years been heavily reliant on millions of Central Asian migrants.
But their flow to Russia dipped after Moscow launched its Ukraine campaign and some Central Asians also held back from going to Russia after the post-Crocus migrant crackdowns.
