Man charged over antisemitic graffiti sprayed on Sydney school, homes and shopping centre
A man has been charged with defacing buildings with antisemitic graffiti. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)
In short:
A man has been charged with allegedly spraying antisemitic graffiti on homes and a school in Sydney's south and east.
A Jewish school as well as a shopping centre were targeted in January with tags labelled "grotesque" and "hateful" by the Jewish community.
What's next?
The man will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday to face a range of property damage and driving offences.
A man has been charged with allegedly defacing a number of properties with antisemitic graffiti in Sydney's southern and eastern suburbs.
A Jewish primary school in Maroubra, a nearby home, a shopping centre in Eastgardens and a home in Eastlakes were all sprayed with antisemitic phrases on January 30.
A wall at Mount Sinai College was tagged with "Jews are real terrorists".
A NSW Police strike force established to investigate and prevent further antisemitic attacks concluded the incidents were linked.
As part of the investigation, 41-year-old Emad Raad was arrested on Thursday in Eastlakes, and was allegedly in possession of prohibited drugs.
Mr Raad was charged with a range of property damage, driving and drug offences at Mascot Police Station.
He did not appear in person nor on screen when his case came before Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
The matter was adjourned for a fortnight, and he made no application for bail.
Antisemitic graffiti condemned
NSW Premier Chris Minns condemned those behind the vandalism of the school at the time of the attacks, and said it was "another naked example of racism in our community".
Antisemitic graffiti on a wall at a Jewish school in Maroubra was alleged sprayed by a 41-year-old man. (Supplied: NSW Jewish Board of Deputies)
The premier said the government would "throw all our resources at tracking down people responsible for malicious damage, for hate crimes".
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the graffiti was "vile and hateful".
"Looking at the images now, it is just grotesque and absolutely sickening that school children are going to have to walk past this repellent hate speech as they make their way into school," he told ABC Radio Sydney.
Police have now arrested 30 people and laid 151 charges relating to antisemitic attacks across the city since October 2024.