The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
Car torched, anti-Israel graffiti sprayed in Sydney days after Melbourne synagogue attack
SYDNEY — Vandals daubed anti-Israel graffiti in a Sydney suburb on Wednesday, police say, sparking “outrage” from Australia’s government days after a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze.
Police say they are seeking two people aged 15-20 who wore face coverings in relation to the incident, in which a car was also torched in the early hours.
Graffiti was spread over the burned car, another vehicle, two buildings and a footpath, state police says.
Images on local media showed the misspelled phrase “Kill Israiel” painted in black on a white wall in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, which has a long-established Jewish community.
A contractor painted over the graffiti soon afterwards.
Woollahra this morning. pic.twitter.com/p2SgiKtTve
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) December 10, 2024
“The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another antisemitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says in a statement on social media.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our country.”
The Australian leader says he will be briefed by a federal police task force that was set up this week to investigate antisemitic attacks.
Senior Islamist commander says rebel forces have taken control of eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, a senior commander of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, says that the rebel forces completely took control over the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor.
US military says it fended off Houthi attack on ships in Gulf of Aden
Two US Navy destroyers escorting three merchant vessels through the Gulf of Aden defeated an attack by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the US military says.
The Houthis launched multiple drones and a cruise missile while the ships were transiting the Gulf yesterday and today, the US Central Command says in a post on X.
“The reckless attacks resulted in no injuries and no damage to any vessels, civilians or US Naval,” CENTCOM says.
A military spokesman for the Houthis said earlier today that the group had targeted three supply ships and two American destroyers accompanying them in the Gulf of Aden.