A wave of violent anti-Semitic attacks rocks Australia

In Melbourne, masked men set fire to a legendary synagogue. In Sydney, a synagogue was defaced with red swastikas spray-painted along the fence, while a daycare was set on fire and scrawled with anti-Semitic slurs under the cover of night.

A series of anti-Semitic attacks in recent weeks has shaken Australia’s Jewish community, home to the largest proportion of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel. No major casualties were reported, but the violence represents a dramatic escalation of tensions spilling over from the Middle East war, which has also sparked Islamophobic episodes in Australia.

Reports of arson and explicit graffiti have angered a nation that prides itself on being a multicultural and tolerant society and where a third of the population is foreign-born.

Authorities now say they are investigating whether there was international involvement in attacks in recent months in Sydney and Melbourne, the country’s two largest cities.

The latest attack was on a Sydney daycare, which was reported early Tuesday. In a statement Tuesday, the head of the Australian Federal Police said his agency was investigating whether “foreign actors or individuals” had paid residents in Australia to carry out some of these acts. But he provided no testimony or further details.