Suspects connected to the vandalism and attempted arson attack of a synagogue in Sydney, Australia on Jan. 11, 2025. Photo: New South Wales Police

Counterterrorism police have taken over an investigation into swastika vandalism and attempted arson targeting a synagogue in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday morning, said New South Wales (NSW) Acting Premier Penny Sharpe.

The acting premier told Australia’s ABC radio on Monday that she is confident counterterrorism police will find the perpetrators behind the vandalism and arson attempt.

“They bring all of the intelligence that we have about activity that is out there,” she said. “They are able to coordinate at the local level, at the broader level, they’re able to work very closely and do things like release CCTV.”

NSW Police released CCTV images of two individuals connected to the swastika graffiti that was spray-painted on a synagogue in Sydney’s Inner West, during which police believe an arson attempt was also made. Police said early Saturday morning, two people approached the synagogue on Georgina Street in Newtown, spray-painted the antisemitic Nazi symbol on the fence and building, and also attempted to light the synagogue on fire. The pair left the scene of the crime shortly afterward. NSW Police have also provided descriptions of what the suspects were wearing during the incident.

“New South Wales should be a safe place for every person and any attack on any group is completely unacceptable,” Sharpe told Sky News Australia. “The rise of antisemitism is something everyone should be concerned about, not just the Jewish community. We’re pleased and watching closely the work that the counterterrorism and police are doing in relation to all the investigations. We’re examining laws and when Parliament returns in February, we’ll be putting in place protections so people can go to their church or their temple or synagogue without fear of harassment or threatening behavior.”

“This is a very serious matter” Sharpe added. “It’s hateful, it’s illegal, and for the community that we live in, we have to send a very strong message that it won’t go unanswered.”

Sharpe also spoke of a “community responsibility” and urged residents of NSW to come forward to police with any information regarding the vandalism and attempted arson, including knowledge about the suspects. When asked if she would support legislation that calls for mandatory prison sentences for individuals who target Jewish synagogues, she said, “we are open to all ideas … we are always open to a conversation on a national level about these issues.”

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said over the weekend that the spray-painting of a swastika on the synagogue was “very concerning, not just for the Jewish community but for the wider community.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia’s “tolerant multicultural community” was “no place for this sort of criminal activity.”

The latest investigation came weeks after the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) published a report showing that antisemitism across the country quadrupled to record levels between 2023-2024, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes surged across Australia following the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. Such incidents included a terrorist arson attack on a synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea.

Just last week, several swastikas were spray-painted on the Allawah synagogue in southern Sydney, as well as the antisemitic message “Hitler on top Allah” and the phrase “Free Palestine.” The vandalism last week took place mere days after a car was spray-painted with the message “F—k the Jews” in Sydney’s south-east suburb Queens Park.

In May 2024, the words “Jew die” were spray-painted on the entrance of Mount Scopus Memorial College, Melbourne’s largest Jewish school. In December 2024, a car was set on fire in the eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra that is home to Australia’s largest Jewish community, and the words “Kill Israiel [sic]” were graffitied on a wall nearby.

“Kill Jews … Jew [sic] lives here” was painted on a wall that contained mailboxes in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton in November 2023, and graffiti was also spray-painted a wall in the inner west suburb of Sydneham that read “gas the Jews.”

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A damaged fireplace stands amid the remains of a devastated home, as the Eaton Fire continues, in Altadena, California, US, Jan. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The Jewish Free Loan Association (JFLA) is offering families and individuals affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, regardless of their race or religion, zero-interest and zero-fee loans up to $15,000.

The loans can cover temporary housing, including short-term rentals and hotels, clothing, medication, the purchase of a used car, and other needs and supplies. JFLA is also offering assistance to small businesses and nonprofits by helping with the purchase of inventory, relocation costs, marketing, and the replacement of equipment. Small business and nonprofit loans are available for up to $36,000.

The nonprofit organization offers zero-interest, zero-fee personal and business loans with no collateral. JFLA usually requires applicants to have a qualified guarantor but is waving that necessity for those affected by the wildfires and offering them a fire relief loan of up to $2,000 for people of all faiths and backgrounds. The organization has a limited number of loans up to $2,000 without guarantors that are available on a first-come, first serve basis.

The organization has been helping the Los Angeles community since it was founded in 1904, assisting thousands of families who immigrated to the US during World War II and supporting hundreds of Iranian Jewish refugee immigrants who relocated to the US in the late 1970s and 1980s after the Iranian revolution. It is the only interest-free lending agency in the greater Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties, and has provided $18 million of interest-free loan dollars throughout the region.

Wildfires have been burning throughout the Los Angeles area since Jan. 7 and at least 24 people have died. Officials said at least 12,300 structures have been damaged or destroyed, and more 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes since Sunday, according to Reuters.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the wildfires could be the most catastrophic natural disaster in US history.

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Israeli forces operating in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 3, 2023, in an area from which many attempts to attack the Israeli forces through tunnel shafts and military compounds were detected. Photo: EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect

Mediators gave Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas a final draft of a deal on Monday to end the war in Gaza, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

The official said the text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides at talks in Doha, which included the chiefs of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar’s prime minister.

Steve Witkoff, who will become US envoy when Trump returns to the US presidency next week, attended the talks, the official said. A US source said the outgoing Biden administration’s envoy Brett McGurk was also there.

“The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal,” the official said, characterizing the draft as the outcome of a breakthrough reached in the early hours of Monday.

Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, received a Hamas delegation headed by senior official Khalil al-Hayya to discuss the ceasefire talks, the emir’s office said.

Israel’s Kan radio, citing an Israeli official, reported on Monday that Israeli and Hamas delegations in Qatar had both received a draft, and that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israel’s leaders. Israel, Hamas, and the foreign ministry of Qatar did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.

Officials on both sides, while stopping short of confirming that a final draft had been reached, described progress at the talks.

“The negotiation over some core issues made progress and we are working to conclude what remains soon,” a Hamas official told Reuters on Monday, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the negotiations were being coordinated between Biden’s and Trump’s teams.

“There is progress, it looks much better than previously. I want to thank our American friends for the huge efforts they are investing to secure a hostage deal,” Saar told reporters.

The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have worked for more than a year on talks to end the war in Gaza, so far fruitlessly.

In Cairo, an Egyptian security official told Reuters the draft sent to the two warring sides did not comprise the final agreement but “aims to resolve outstanding issues that had hindered previous negotiations.”

HELL TO PAY

Israel’s channel 12 said Israeli government institutions had been told to prepare for the intake of weak and sick hostages. A spokesperson from the Israeli health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The warring sides have agreed for months broadly on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. But Hamas has always insisted a deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.

Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen in the region as a de facto deadline. The president-elect has said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office, while outgoing President Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.

The official who first disclosed the draft said talks went until the early hours of Monday, with Witkoff pushing the Israeli delegation in the Qatari capital Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pushing Hamas officials to finalize an agreement.

The head of Egypt’s general intelligence agency Hassan Mahmoud Rashad was also in Doha as part of the talks. Rashad left Doha on Monday but a source familiar with the talks said an intelligence delegation stayed behind to play an active role.

Trump envoy Witkoff has traveled to Qatar and Israel several times since late November. He was in Doha on Friday and travelled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.

Biden also spoke on Sunday by phone with Netanyahu, stressing “the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal,” the White House said.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel from the neighboring enclave on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party, a hardline nationalist party which has opposed previous attempts at a deal, said all its members would oppose a deal that didn’t achieve Hamas’ “destruction” and the latest proposal endangered Israel’s national security.

For the last several months, fighting has been particularly intense along the northern edge of Gaza, where Israel says it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to depopulate a buffer zone.

Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida said the group’s fighters attacked Israeli forces in the area killing at least 10 soldiers and injuring dozens of others in the past 72 hours.

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