Puppeteer of racist attacks hit with massive jail term

A Porsche-driving middleman has been given a mammoth task to lead a series of anti-Semitic attacks designed to divide Australia’s Jewish and Arab communities.

Nicholas James Alexander admitted carrying out firebombings and attacks in Sydney in January 2025.

He hired others to firebomb a childcare center in Maroubra and burn cars at the former home of senior Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin.

Anti-Semitic slurs and swastikas were also painted on cars and a synagogue.

The 32-year-old man said he was acting on the instructions of unknown persons abroad and was not motivated by racial hatred.

“I hold no ill will towards the Jewish community,” Alexander wrote in the Downing Center Local Court in Sydney.

“My actions for which I take responsibility are purely for financial purposes.”

He said his drug problem drove him into debt and he felt he had no choice but to do as he was told.

“My actions were not intended to hurt anyone or advance an agenda for myself. I was simply trying to extricate myself from the trap I found myself in,” he wrote.

He pleaded guilty to knowingly directing a criminal group and six counts of being an accessory after the fact to damage property.

He organized stolen cars to be used in attacks, explained how to make and use Molotov cocktails, arranged for handguns to be distributed, and coordinated drop-off points.

While Judge Jennifer Atkinson accepted he was remorseful and not racially motivated, she rejected his motives for the crime.

He stated that owning a Porsche implied that he did not have the financial resources.

The judge found Alexander was motivated by financial reward and knew the crimes would create fear in the Australian Jewish community and beyond.

Ms Atkinson said the series of attacks was a deliberate tactic to divide Australian Arab and Jewish communities to further the aims of overseas masterminds.

“The great distress already experienced in the Jewish community has increased day by day throughout January,” he said.

“These incidents were also an attack on Australian society at large by people from outside our community. They were intended to divide our society.”

He played a crucial role for overseas interventionists, who had no way of influencing events in Australia without people like Alexander willing to carry out their plans.

Alexander did not react as he was sentenced to five years in prison.

He will be eligible for parole in mid-2028.

A capital sentence is the maximum sentence a NSW judge can use for any series of offences.

Mr Ryvchin, whose former home was destroyed in the attacks, said he believed the sentence was appropriate.

“This man’s decision to target a childcare center and a family home left people fearing for their lives and the safety of their children,” the co-chair of the Executive Council of Australian Jews said.

“They have caused Australian Jews to question their place in this country and to change patterns of behavior between Jews and non-Jews.”