Calls to treat Anti-Semitism as a public safety issue
A Jewish leader says antisemitism must be treated as a public safety issue as authorities search for the suspect behind an allegedly hate-related firebomb following the Bondi massacre.
A car bearing the Hanukiah symbol, a nine-branched candelabra associated with Hanukkah celebrations, was set on fire outside the home of a local rabbi in St Kilda East, south-east of Melbourne, in the early hours of Christmas Day.
There was no one in the vehicle at that time, but those in the house had to be evacuated as a precaution.
Police are investigating the suspicious fire and have identified a person who may assist with investigations.
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, said the attack was designed to scare Jews because they were visibly Jewish.
“After Bondi, with recent threats and investigations across the country, Australia must address anti-Semitism as a public safety issue, not as a private problem for society,” he said.
Mr Leibler said a federal royal commission with real powers, or an equivalent national inquiry, into the Bondi attack and the wider anti-Semitism crisis was the only way the nation could achieve truth, accountability and lasting reform.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has been briefed on the firebombing of a car used to spread Hanukkah and holiday cheer, which “the community rightly fears will be an anti-Semitic incident.”
“This is not what any family, street or community deserves to wake up to on Christmas Day in Australia,” he said on social media.
“We have a duty to this community: to ensure that their families are safe and that they feel safe, and to work in a serious effort to remove anti-Semitism and hatred from our state in the long term.”
The incident comes after 15 people were killed when two ISIS-inspired gunmen opened fire on Hanukkah celebrations at Bondi Beach on December 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the apparent firebomb attack was “incomprehensible”.
“What kind of evil ideology and thoughts could motivate someone at a time like this? We know there is an evil presence,” he said Thursday.
But the prime minister resisted calling a federal royal commission into the Bondi attack; instead he supported an investigation in NSW and prioritized a faster but more limited review by intelligence and law enforcement.
Hate speech reforms and an overhaul of ministerial powers to revoke or deny visas aimed at partitioning or potentially inciting violence are also on the agenda.
The Victorian government has vowed to follow NSW’s lead in cracking down on hate crime and giving police the power to veto protests after terror attacks.
