The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they unfold.
Car in Sydney hit with antisemitic graffiti, drawing condemnation
A car in Sydney has been spray-painted with an antisemitic message, in the latest incident of hate toward Jews to rock Australia in recent weeks.
A vehicle in Queens Park, one of the city’s Eastern Suburbs that have a heavily Jewish population, was hit with “Fuck the Jews” graffiti.
Sydney. Again. Another suburb with a large Jewish community and multiple Jewish communal facilities. No one just vandalises a car with a racist slogan. It is the product of endless incitement, demonisation and a belief that such attitudes are freely permitted, even celebrated. pic.twitter.com/KPxRTpf1bK
— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) January 5, 2025
David Ossip, president of the Jewish Board of Deputies in the New South Wales state, tells local media he is “appalled and saddened” about the latest incident.
“It is unacceptable that Jewish Australians and Australians of all backgrounds have had to wake up yet again and see messages of hate prominently displayed in their neighborhood,” he says. “It is intolerable that Australians are having to go to bed fearful that their cars or properties will be defaced overnight with antisemitic hate speech.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reacts, saying: “There is no tolerance for antisemitism in Australia, from my government, nor should there be tolerance from anyone else. Antisemitism is a scourge, and any event such as this, targeting people because of who they are, is not the Australian values that I hold dear, and the Australian values that are held dear by overwhelmingly Australians.”
Police forbid anti-war protest, citing expected speeches ‘weakening security forces’
Police have blocked a planned rally in the north demanding an end to the war, for reasons that include expected speeches featuring “incitement” and “weakening the security forces.”
According to Haaretz, the far-left Communist Party of Israel (Maki) filed a request to hold a three-kilometer march in the Arab city of Sakhnin, urging an end to the war and a stronger fight against violent crime in the Arab community.
However, police refused to authorize the demonstration since Israel is in a state of war, since the road where it was set to take place is used by emergency army vehicles and is close to “sensitive security sites,” since intelligence indicated more than the requested 1,000 people were set to attend, and since no municipal approval was presented.
In addition, the police letter stated that “police have material indicating expected speeches of an inciting nature that weakens the security forces.”
It warned the organizers that they would be criminally liable if the protest ended up going ahead.
Report: 60 terror suspects arrested in Gaza raid were treated in Israeli hospitals
Following last week’s IDF operation at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, in which forces said they arrested 240 terror suspects, a report claims that 60 of the detainees received treatment in Israeli hospitals following their arrest.
Channel 12 news reports that 60 members of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups required medical attention that couldn’t be given at the Sde Teiman detention facility, since its field hospital was closed in October citing a low number of patients.
Citing unnamed sources in the healthcare system, the network says that the terror suspects were taken to hospitals including Ichilov in Tel Aviv, Barzilai in Ashkelon, Assuta in Ashdod, Wolfson in Holon, and Shaare Zedek in Jerusalem.
It quotes an unnamed health official as reiterating past warnings that the closure of the field hospital would cause terrorists to get treatment at hospitals around the country — presumably posing security risks and potentially leading to public criticism — adding that this “could have been avoided” and calling for a designated facility.