Kensington, Sydney – Nazi graffiti has been sprayed on a home in Sydney’s east in an attack against Sydney’s Jewish community on the holiest day of the year.
The public display of such Nazi symbols, which appeared alongside cryptic messages and references to LGBTQ people over the weekend, was made illegal in NSW last year and police are investigating.
The brick home on Lenthall Street, Kensington, was covered with graffiti in black spray paint.
The symbols include the Nazi swastika, the Star of David, the word “GAY” and others. The Chinese symbol for “sky” or “day” was painted on a garage door above a German phrase which translates to “after the rain comes the sun”.
The city’s Jewish community have a strong presence in Kensington and surrounding suburbs, and on Monday marked the holy day of Yom Kippur.
“This graffiti has appeared in the eastern suburbs which is home to a substantial Jewish community and occurred on the eve of the holiest day in the Jewish calendar,” Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told the Herald.
“The intent is to instil fear in our community. But they will fail. Tens of thousands of Australians will mark Yom Kippur as we have done for thousands of years.”
Ryvchin said the graffiti shows the “hatred” and “increasing brazenness of neo-Nazis” in Australia.
“The intent here is to instil fear and to signal to like-minded psychopaths that they can be more open and bold in their activities,” Ryvchin said.
The NSW government last year passed laws that made the public display of Nazi symbols illegal “without reasonable excuse”.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison, a $11,000 fine – or both. A corporation can be fined $55,000.
“All symbols representing hateful ideology are abhorrent and have no place in our peaceful society,” NSW Attorney General Michael Daley told the Herald.
“The NSW government is working to tackle extremism in all its forms.”
Neo-Nazis sprayed similar black paint graffiti targeting Jewish Australians in the Melbourne suburb of Altona on Sunday night. The messages there blamed Jewish people for the pandemic.
Neo-Nazi social networks on Monday shared images of the Victorian graffiti alongside messages of support and accusations the Voice to parliament was secretly a Jewish plot.
NSW Police has been made aware of the graffiti in Sydney and urged anyone with information to come forward.
The state legislation provides that it is not an offence to display a Nazi symbol where there is a reasonable excuse, including artistic, academic or educational purposes, or any other purpose in the public interest.