TRANSCRIPT
A small, inner-city Sydney bakery vandalised with antisemitic graffiti.
Over the weekend, the Jewish owned business, was painted with inverted red triangles.
It's a symbol that has become associated with Hamas, first appearing in some of their videos to identify Israeli targets.
The owner of Avner's bakery, is T-V chef Ed Halmagyi [[hah-MAHL-jee]].
He posted about the incident on social media, saying he also received a note with the words, 'Be Careful' on it, slipped under the door.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry's co-chief executive officer, Alex Ryvchin, says antisemitism has been occurring consistently since October 7, with many small businesses boycotted.
"We've seen many Jewish businesses, small businesses, targeted in this way, co-ordinated campaigns to boycott larger businesses and small institutions also. And, for the most part, this really harms, just local Australians who are trying to contribute and do something they are deeply passionate about, as in this case here. And it goes to the ability of the Jewish community to contribute to the society, to feel a part of society, to be welcomed here. It's something that we associate with the darkest periods of Jewish history when people were targeted simply because of their ethnicity and premises just like this were daubed in the same sort of way. It's a shocking thing for the Jewish community to discover this and it's been happening throughout the country."
Reported incidents of Islamophobia, also on the rise.
The Islamophobia Register of Australia's executive director Nora Amath says the reported data indicates an increase of about over 600 per cent.
"Visibly, Muslim women like myself who have you know been viciously, verbally and physically assaulted while they've been shopping or in another place, just moving about their everyday activities. And often, they're assaulted verbally and also assaulted physically, so we've had women being punched, headscarves attempted to be taken off them. We've also seen Muslim businesses and organisations receive quite a bit of hate, whether through voicemails, whether through letters, physical letters, whether through emails, so we're seeing many, many more of these cases unfortunately."
In Melbourne, Labor M-P and special envoy for social cohesion, Peter Khalil's office was vandalised with red paint and an unknown substance. [[MON OCT 14]]
Mr Khalil told the ABC the smell was unbearable.
"You couldn't even, from the outside it was very difficult. So, people went in, the hazmat team, went in with their suits and their oxygen masks to take the test, test the material. There's a lab here, that they're going through the initial tests to find out what it is. So, it's an active crime scene in that respect."
Just across the border in the small New South Wales town of Corowa, a group of around 50 masked men gathered at a white supremacy rally on Saturday.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns condemned the rally, referring to the participants as 'lonely, pathetic people'.
"This is a slippery slope. If you start allowing this kind of appalling, racist behaviour into your community it sets in like a disease that's impossible to remove. And that's exactly what it it, this kind of racism is appalling. There was also reports of vandalism for a business owned by a member of the Jewish community. Again, completely appalling. Designed, I think, to tear at the seams of our multicultural community."
The local member for Farrer Sussan Ley told the ABC the group had targeted the historic town of Corowa, widely known as the birthplace of federation to use as a backdrop in their campaign to sow division and hate in the community.
"They were hiding their identities, that's what they do these isolated minorities. They need to be called out, found out and if there's anything that they can be charged with, I know they will be."
Their divisive message felt deeply within the community.
