SYDNEY: The premier of Australia’s New South Wales state Chris Minns said on Sunday that an attack on a Sydney synagogue on Saturday marked an escalation in anti-Semitic crime in the state, after police said the attack was attempted arson.
Australia has seen a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the last year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney, as well as an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne that police ruled as terrorism.
In the latest incident, police were notified of anti-Semitic graffiti on a synagogue in the inner suburb of Newtown early on Saturday. An arson attempt was also made on the synagogue, police later said.
“This is an escalation in anti-Semitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerant may have been used,” Minns, the leader of Australia’s most populous state, said on Sunday in a televised media conference alongside state police commissioner Karen Webb.
“In the last 24 hours, these matters have now been taken over by counter-terrorism command,” Webb said.
A house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was also daubed with anti-Semitic graffiti, police said on Saturday, adding they were also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.
On Friday, a special police task force was set up to investigate an attack on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah in the early hours of Friday morning.
David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said on Sunday he welcomed extra resources promised by the government to probe the recent incidents.
“The New South Wales government has also provided us with additional funding to enhance Jewish communal security,” Ossip added in a statement.
On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, referring to the Southern Sydney Synagogue incident, said that there was “no place in Australia, our tolerant multicultural community, for this sort of criminal activity.”
The number of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents have increased in Australia since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and Israel launched its war on Gaza. Some Jewish organizations have said the government has not taken sufficient action in response.
Australia state premier calls synagogue attack an escalation in anti-Semitic crime
https://arab.news/4kb5p
Australia state premier calls synagogue attack an escalation in anti-Semitic crime
- Australia has seen a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the last year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney
UK police hunt suspects after 600 items relating to the British Empire are stolen from a museum
- The Avon and Somerset Police force said the items with “significant cultural value”
- The force said it wanted to speak to four men over the theft and appealed to the public for information
LONDON: More than 600 artifacts relating to the history of the British Empire and Commonwealth have been stolen from the collection of Bristol Museum, police said Thursday as they released images of four suspects.
The Avon and Somerset Police force said the items with “significant cultural value” were taken from a storage building in the early hours of Sept. 25.
The force said it wanted to speak to four men over the theft and appealed to the public for information.
It was unclear why the appeal was being made more than two months after the crime.
“The theft of many items which carry a significant cultural value is a significant loss for the city,” said Det. Constable Dan Burgan.
“These items, many of which were donations, form part of a collection that provides insight into a multilayered part of British history, and we are hoping that members of the public can help us to bring those responsible to justice.”
The port city of Bristol, 120 miles (195 kilometers) southwest of London, played a major role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Ships based in the city transported at least half a million Africans into slavery before Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807. Many 18th-century Bristolians helped fund the trade and shared in the profits, which also built handsome Georgian houses and buildings that still dot the city.
It was the focus of international attention and debate in 2020, when anti-racism demonstrators toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston from its plinth in the city and dumped it in the River Avon.
The vandalized statue was later fished out and put on display in a museum.
