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
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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
Sri Lanka targets 3 million tourists to aid cyclone recovery
- The tourist arrival target, which is an ambitious 27 percent increase over the previous year, will help Sri Lankans recover from Cyclone Ditwah
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is targeting 3 million tourist arrivals in 2026, a top official said on Monday, after a record 2.36 million last year, as the country seeks to boost revenue and support recovery from Cyclone Ditwah.
Famous for its pristine beaches, ancient temples and Ceylon Tea, tourism is Sri Lanka’s second-largest foreign exchange earner with $3.2 billion in revenues in 2025.
The tourist arrival target, which is an ambitious 27 percent increase over the previous year, will help Sri Lankans recover from Cyclone Ditwah, which hit the island nation at the end of November killing 645 people, said Vijitha Herath, minister of foreign affairs and tourism.
Torrential rains and hundreds of landslides damaged over 110,000 houses as well as key roads, railroads, and bridges causing $4.1 billion in damage according to World Bank estimates.
Growth, which was projected at 3.1 percent for 2026, was reduced to 2.9 percent by the International Monetary Fund in December. An IMF delegation is expected in Colombo this month to conduct the fifth review of a $2.9 billion program with Sri Lanka.
“We are proud that Sri Lanka still managed to record the highest-ever tourism numbers. We are hopeful that tourism revenue will also continue to grow and this will help our economy at a crucial time,” Herath told reporters.
Sri Lanka is also eyeing about $500 million in investment in the tourism sector in 2026 after attracting $329 million from 126 projects last year, said Buddhika Hewawasam, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
