Anthony Albanese visits Sydney childcare centre firebombed and graffitied in suspected anti-Semitic attack

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has visited a daycare centre that was firebombed and scrawled with graffiti in the latest suspected anti-Semitic attack in Sydney.

Emergency services were called to a childcare centre on Storey St in Maroubra about 1am on Tuesday following reports of a fire.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze but the building was significantly damaged.

There were no injuries and the building was unoccupied at the time.

A NSW Police spokesperson said “offensive graffiti” was found on an exterior wall of the daycare.

Photos of the scene posted to X show the graffiti is anti-Semitic.

Mr Albanese made an unannounced visit to the daycare centre on Tuesday morning with NSW Premier Chris Minns.

The swift visit followed criticism of Mr Albanese after he visited the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne until several days after it was firebombed.

Mr Albanese said the attack was “the latest in a series of anti-Semitic hate crimes”.

“And it is a crime, a vicious crime, to think through how you could think that something like this would advance any alleged cause that people might have,” Mr Albanese said.

“The only objective which will be achieved by this crime is the fulfillment of these people being caught, charged and facing the full force of the law.

“This is something that people in this great multicultural city of Sydney should never wake up to, and this news will lead to action.”

“B*******”: Minns condemns “apalling behaviour”

Mr Minns condemned the “heartbreaking” attack while addressing the media at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

“This is appalling behavior. It’s against everything and all of the traditions that we hold dear in Australia, these anti semitic attacks are the opposite of the kind of country that we all want to live in,” Mr Minns said.

He said NSW Police had launched a major investigation.

“But I think we know enough already without knowing the identities, to know the kind of people that we are dealing with,” he said.

“The kind of people that would burn down a child care center on the day children are meant to be returning to the classroom, the kind of people that would burn it down because it’s located next to a synagogue, the kind of people that would make the kind of activity where they would attack a fellow Australian whom they don’t know because of their race or religion.

“It is completely disgusting, and these b******* will be rounded up by NSW Police.”

The Prime Minister earlier said the government would support NSW Police to “hunt down the offenders and ensure they face the full force of the law” in regards to the latest incident in Sydney.

“I utterly condemn this evil hate crime,” Mr Albanese said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin called the incident a “depth of savagery that is difficult to imagine” in a post to X.

“Today, families will be having conversations about whether it’s safe to send their children to the places where they should be safest,” Mr Ryvchin wrote.

“Places of worship, homes and now preschools have all been targeted by domestic terrorists. anti-Semitism consumes everything.

“It is the disease that is destroying our country.

“We need national cabinet to deal with what is a national emergency.”

The incident comes after several vehicles were found torched and graffitied with anti-Semitic messages and a home was splashed with red paint on Military Rd in Dover Heights on Friday.

The home formerly belonged to Mr Ryvchin.

Mr Minns described the “acts of hate” as “naked racism” committed by “animals”.

“Police are directing a huge amount of resources to this,” Mr Minns said.

He said protections of Jewish places of worship and hate laws would be changed when parliament returned in February.

“We’ve got a comprehensive response to this … but I can’t guarantee it is the end of it because there are very bad people in our community,” he said.

“There’s some terrible actors in the community who are going to commit hateful acts because they’ve got hate in their heart.

“That is antithetical to everything that Australia represents and it will not be tolerated.”