A fight broke out between four men waving a Palestinian flag and a young Jewish man sitting in his car near one of Sydney’s famous beaches, according to reports.
Police were called to the Ampol station on Old South Head Road in North Bondi at around 10.20pm on Wednesday evening following reports of an altercation.
Nearby residents remember being woken up by screams.
The Australian Jewish Association says a Jewish man was sitting in his car when he was confronted by four men who were flying a Palestinian Arab flag on their vehicle.
The organization also claimed the man’s car window was smashed and threats of violence were made before police arrived.
A police source told The Daily Telegraph that a group of young men had been spotted by a group of Jewish men driving around the eastern suburbs with a Palestinian flag unfurled from their car.
It appears that two teenagers in the car with the flag stopped at a gas station where another car carrying two men turned around and met them there.
Police were called to a petrol station in North Bondi following a violent fight
Four men encountered by police at the scene (pictured) were ordered to leave. No charges have been filed
“Officers arrived and were informed that a group of unknown persons were behaving aggressively before leaving the scene,” a police statement said.
No charges were filed and no injuries were reported.
According to unconfirmed reports, four men spoken to by police at the scene were given moving notices and banned from returning to Bondi.
Police remained at the scene for at least seven hours until 5 a.m. Thursday to ensure no further incidents occurred.
Officers also searched the area for evidence and reportedly seized a number of items, including a hockey stick and a tool.
NSW Police have not yet confirmed whether the incident was racially motivated, but are expected to provide more details later on Thursday.
Investigations into the incident continue.
Police remained at the Ampol gas station until 5 a.m. Thursday
About two-thirds of Sydney’s Jewish community live in the eastern suburbs, including Bondi, where police have been called to recent clashes linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
AJA president Robert Gregory told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday he had spoken to the Jewish man involved in the incident.
“Carloads of young Middle Eastern men arriving from across town with Palestinian Arab flags seeking to provoke violence is a worrying development.
“We have not heard of any cases of carloads of Jews flying Israeli flags driving around the Lakemba mosque. Fortunately, the police arrived at that time.
Police (pictured) spent seven hours at the scene and seized a number of items from the scene.
This comes from the fact that the leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton called on the Prime Minister not to leave Australia for the APEC summit in San Francisco until he had ensured that Australian Jews would be protected within the community.
“The Prime Minister should not leave this country until the national cabinet has been convened to provide assurances, support, comfort and security to members of the Jewish community,” he said.
The prime minister hit back, saying he had been consistent in his views in calling for unity.
“The weaponization or the attempt to weaponize anti-Semitism in this House and make it a partisan issue is, frankly, beyond contempt,” he said Wednesday.
“I make no apologies for speaking out against anti-Semitism and I will do so unequivocally…I have a record in this area and I’m proud of it, but I also have a record of defense of the rights and for justice of the Palestinian people.
“I make no apologies for being a consistent proponent of a two-state solution, and I also make no apologies for trying to bring communities together, not divide them.”
It comes as six federal election offices across the country have been the target of pro-Palestinian protests involving bloodied replicas of corpses from Gaza.
Among those targeted were Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and fellow Labor MPs Ged Kearney and Peter Khalil.
