PM calls national cabinet following spate of antisemitic attacks

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called a national cabinet meeting of state and territory leaders to talk about solutions to the spate of anti-Jewish hate crimes in Sydney and Melbourne.

Albanese announced the meeting at a press conference in western Sydney on Tuesday morning, following a fire at a childcare centre. It will be held via online hook-up at 5pm on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns and senior police following the latest antisemitic attack in Sydney.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The Only About Children childcare centre on Storey Street in Maroubra went up in flames just before 1am on Tuesday. When police and firefighters arrived, they found offensive graffiti reading “f— the Jews” sprayed in black paint on a wall.

Albanese last week held a meeting on antisemitism with the leaders of NSW and Victoria, the states where the vast majority of Jewish Australians live and where incidents have occurred. But the opposition and some Jewish leaders have called for the government to put greater emphasis on the scourge by holding a national cabinet meeting.

Albanese dismissed the need for “more meetings” on Monday, prompting Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who has been highly critical of Albanese’s handling of antisemitism, to call on the prime minister to drop his “pride” and convene the meeting of leaders.

There have been at least nine major antisemitic incidents in Sydney since the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks. Three – one in Dover Heights on Friday, and two incidents in Woollahra – have involved cars being doused in flammable liquid before being set alight. An accelerant was also used in an attack on a Newtown synagogue. In October two buildings at Bondi Beach, including a kosher restaurant, were also set alight.

In Melbourne last year, the office of Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns had a fire set inside, and another fire mostly destroyed the Adass Israel Synagogue.

Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns visited the childcare centre on Tuesday morning. Albanese said he “utterly condemned this evil hate crime”.

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