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Australian Police Arrest Third Suspect in Firebombing Attack on Jewish Leader’s Former Home
Illustrative. Car in New South Wales, Australia graffitied with antisemitic message. The word “F***” has been removed from this image. Photo: Screenshot
On Monday, law enforcement in Australia arrested an unnamed 25-year-old man, charging him with involvement in antisemitic graffiti and arson targeting a residence in the Sydney suburb of Dover Heights previously inhabited by Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
The Jan. 17 attack saw two cars defaced with expletives targeting Jews and then set on fire with the flames soon engulfing a third. The vandals also threw red paint onto the house.
Police charged their suspect with participating in a criminal group and destroying property using fire with damage exceeding $5,000, saying that he assisted in the planning of the attack but did not participate in the vandalism himself. A judge released him on bail and set May 29 as the date of his next court appearance.
The New South Wales Police’s Strike Force Pearl, a taskforce created to counter a recent surge in antisemitic hate crimes, has already apprehended two other unidentified men—a 28-year-old from Bondi and a 23-year-old from Sydney’s Inner West—suspected of direct involvement in the violence. The team has not ruled out arresting further suspects.
Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism released a report last month revealing a 320 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia last year as well as a 260 percent jump in antisemitic violence.
A second report released last month, from Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Justice, also documents the surge of antisemitism in Australia.
Drawing from the findings of the ECAJ, researchers tallied 1,713 antisemitic incidents last year, an increase from the 1,200 counted in 2023 which had jumped almost three times as the number found in 2022.
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network in April, Ryvchin described how Australia’s Jews had seen “incidents on university campuses, in schools, firebombings, including a synagogue which was incinerated, a childcare center, private homes, cars. This is what we’ve been dealing with in Australia for the past 16 months.”
Ryvchin said “it’s kind of crazy to contemplate that people in Australia in our time feel less safe here than they would in a war zone, fighting on multiple fronts. But the more that these incidents take place and become normalized and happen in every sector, in the hospital sector now, in the universities, the schools and professions, it makes people really question their future in this country.”
On April 6 in Melbourne, Ryvchin delivered an address on the enduring nature of antisemitism at the B’nai B’rith annual Human Rights Oration following receiving the 2025 B’nai B’rith Human Rights Award.
“After thousands of years, it can no longer be characterized as a defect in reasoning that can be untaught,” Ryvchin said in his speech. “We are not ordinary. And we therefore have to accept the feelings this invokes in others.”
The post Australian Police Arrest Third Suspect in Firebombing Attack on Jewish Leader’s Former Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.