Home Politics Challenging moment: Jewish leader victim of horrific attack shares powerful message with Australia: ‘Evil is at work in this country’

Challenging moment: Jewish leader victim of horrific attack shares powerful message with Australia: ‘Evil is at work in this country’

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A home in the exclusive eastern suburbs neighborhood, where the median home price tops $5 million, was splattered with red paint (pictured)

A prominent Jewish leader whose former home was the target of an anti-Semitic attack has called on his fellow Australians to “speak up” and condemned “an evil at work in this country”.

Several cars parked on Military Road in Dover Heights were spray-painted with anti-Semitic slogans and two were set on fire around 4 a.m. Friday.

A home in the exclusive eastern suburbs neighborhood, where the median home price tops $5 million, was also splattered with red paint.

The property was later revealed to be the former family home of Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jews.

“There is evil at work in this country and we have to recognize it,” Ryvchin told reporters Friday afternoon.

‘There are people who are so consumed by hate that they would try to burn other people because they don’t agree with their words.

“How we respond to things like this will determine the future of our country.”

Ryvchin said the attack “meets a modern standard of terrorism.”

A home in the exclusive eastern suburbs neighborhood, where the median home price tops $5 million, was splattered with red paint (pictured)

The property was later revealed to be the former family home of Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jews (pictured).

The property was later revealed to be the former family home of Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jews (pictured).

‘To my fellow Australians I want to say: “Don’t be silent, find your voice, speak up. We are not a nation of spectators.”

‘What defines our national spirit is that we defend each other, we defend each other: we are defenders, not spectators.

“And at this critical moment we need each of you to stand up and condemn this evil.”

Ryvchin promised not to remain silent.

“Advocating for my people and my community these last 15 months has been the greatest privilege I could imagine and I can tell you that no fire, no vandalism, no painting, no threats, no intimidation will stop me,” he said.

“I will continue to do my duty to my country, my community and my people.”

Mr Rychin said the property had been his home for “many years” and was where his family “took refuge during the Covid pandemic”.

“My family came to this country from the Soviet Union to escape anti-Semitism,” he said.

Ryvchin said the attack

Ryvchin said the attack “meets a modern standard of terrorism” (pictured with his wife outside their former family home)

“This is the greatest and luckiest country in the world; I truly believe that.”

“But if we allow these things to continue to happen, they will slowly define our national character and change who we are as people.”

A crime scene has been established and police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Police said there were no reports of injuries.

“New South Wales Police takes hate crimes seriously,” a police spokesperson said.

Anthony Albanese called the Dover Heights incident “another anti-Semitic attack that goes against everything we stand for.”

“This is a scandal,” he told ABC radio.

Several cars parked on Military Road in Dover Heights were spray-painted with anti-Semitic slogans and two were set on fire around 4 a.m. (pictured)

Several cars parked on Military Road in Dover Heights were spray-painted with anti-Semitic slogans and two were set on fire around 4 a.m. (pictured)

The Prime Minister welcomed Australian Federal Police who on Thursday charged a man with threatening to kill members of a Jewish organisation.

“These are the first charges to arise from Special Operation Avalite which I established last month and which continues to work to identify prolific anti-Semites causing great harm in the community,” Mr Albanese said.

“That’s why we created it and it’s good that these charges have been filed.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns says everything is being done to catch the perpetrators.

“This is a disgusting and dangerous act of violence that is the latest example of a rising level of anti-Semitic attacks in our community,” he said.

“Civil society stands united to condemn this blatant racism.”

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said he was “deeply disturbed and sickened to wake up to news of another anti-Semitic attack”.

“Criminal acts like these, perpetrated by cowards and masked thugs in the dead of night, are intended to threaten and intimidate the Jewish community and further fragment our social cohesion,” he said.

“The hate-filled criminals who are perpetrating these crimes need to know that their campaign of domestic terrorism will not succeed, that the Jewish community is resilient, strong and unbreakable and will remain so.”

Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said the latest attack was a “nightmare turned into reality.”

“The revelation that the house attacked belonged to a high-profile Jewish leader takes this frontal attack to an even more sinister level,” he said.

‘This was not random: it was a deliberate and chilling attempt to threaten a prominent figure in our Jewish community.

Abramovich called for “a national cabinet to be convened immediately to address this growing crisis with the urgency it deserves.”

“We need strong laws and a unified front to eradicate this menace before it gets even more out of control,” he added.

This is the latest alleged anti-Semitic attack to occur in Sydney in recent days.

On Monday, a wall near Sydenham train station in the inner city was painted with the words “gas the Jews.”

Swastikas were also painted on the nearby Newtown synagogue before masked vandals attempted to burn it down.

Last Friday, the South Sydney synagogue in the suburb of Allawah was also targeted by anti-Semitic vandals who painted a series of large red swastikas at the entrance to the place of worship.

This is the latest alleged anti-Semitic attack to occur in Sydney in recent days (pictured: anti-Semitic graffiti painted on a wall behind a burnt-out car in Woollahra, eastern Sydney, last year).

This is the latest alleged anti-Semitic attack in Sydney in recent days (pictured: anti-Semitic graffiti painted on a wall behind a burnt-out car in Woollahra, eastern Sydney, last year).

Pictured: The South Sydney Synagogue in Allawah after it was attacked last Friday.

Pictured: The South Sydney Synagogue in Allawah after it was attacked last Friday.

Premier Anthony Albanese condemned the Newtown incident and said those who committed the act “should face the full force of the law”.

“The vile graffiti we have seen overnight, including at the Newtown synagogue, is abhorrent and must stop immediately,” Albanese said.

“We made it illegal to use Nazi symbols and other symbols of hate because there is no place in Australia for anti-Semitism.”

A shocking new survey by the Anti-Defamation League has found that one in five Australian adults holds strong anti-Semitic beliefs.

Around 20 per cent of Australians (equivalent to 4.2 million people) hold anti-Semitic beliefs, and an alarming number of young people believe the Holocaust was a myth.

Globally, less than half (48 percent) recognize the historical accuracy of the Holocaust, a figure that falls to 39 percent in the 18-34 age group.

While three in five (61 per cent) Australian respondents believe the Holocaust is described accurately, fewer younger respondents agree.

Those ages 18 to 49 are more likely to think the death toll was exaggerated (18 percent), never heard of the Holocaust (nine percent), or believed it was a myth (8 percent).

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