Overview
- The vehicle, displaying a “Happy Chanukah” sign, burned outside the rabbi’s home in St Kilda East, with no injuries reported and the family moved to safety.
- Investigators say inquiries are ongoing, no arrest has been announced, and a suspected antisemitic motive is under examination.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the fire as “unfathomable” and urged a united stand against hatred and antisemitism.
- Officials report more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in the year after October 2023, as New South Wales tightened gun rules, banned public display of terror symbols, and expanded police powers, with federal hate‑speech measures and a weapons buyback signaled.
- A 39-year-old was arrested near Perth for online support of the Bondi attackers, with police seizing six firearms, about 4,000 rounds, Hamas and Hezbollah flags, and bomb-making notes; he was charged and remanded until February 3.