A synagogue in southern Sydney has been vandalised with several swastikas spray-painted onto exterior walls. Two men dressed in hoodies and masks were captured on CCTV spray-painting what NSW Police have described as "offensive" graffiti.
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00:00Police believe that it was between just before 4am and 4.30am this morning that two men in
00:08hoodies and masks came to the site here and they believe that several anti-Semitic phrases
00:14including mention of Hitler as well as anti-Semitic comments towards Jews and about Jewish people
00:20as well as separate comments about Palestine and Israel was emblazoned right around the
00:25synagogue.
00:26I've been walking around this morning and there were very few parts of the synagogue
00:29that were left untouched by this.
00:31Now council workers are working actively to remove this graffiti, police obviously investigating
00:37not just with General Duties officers but we've today learned they'll also be involving
00:41counter-terrorism officers.
00:44We have dedicated resources who will be investigating this particular incident, we've had crime
00:49seen out here already, this will be led by a detective response, our counter-terrorism
00:55team will also be looking at this with us.
01:00We're in the early stages of this investigation, we will be reviewing all the CCTV, canvassing
01:06the area and at this early stage we will say that we have got a number of leads to follow
01:13up on and those people who would want to do this sort of thing we would say to you, you
01:19will get caught, you will get prosecuted and you will be put before the courts.
01:26And Miles, what have the synagogue's representatives had to say?
01:31Well Dr George Foster is the president of the Southern Sydney Synagogue, he speaks about
01:35the resilience of this synagogue initially but just how distressing to see things like
01:40this emblazoned on a place of his worship and for many others who come to the Southern
01:44Sydney Synagogue.
01:46He talked as well about how alarming it was given his own connection to the holocaust
01:50through his parents who survived it, here's what he had to say to the ABC a short time
01:54ago.
01:55I guess it's difficult to describe, sort of shock and distress and as I said being the
02:05child of holocaust survivors it brought back images going back to 1933.
02:13So that's Dr George Foster there, he also spoke about the history of this synagogue
02:17and the security precautions they've had to take already for historic incidents.
02:21In 2002 this very site was the subject of graffiti, he did mention it was nothing of
02:26the tone in terms of the severity that we've seen today, in terms of the anti-semitic nature
02:31of it.
02:32As well it was firebombed in 1991 and that's why he told the ABC that neither him nor the
02:37people who attend this synagogue will be deterred, despite how alarming it is and despite how
02:41distressing it is, that people will continue to set up and that the interior of the synagogue
02:46has remained undamaged and that the security detail they usually have at this site will
02:51remain for this place of worship, particularly during services.
02:56Already this site was actually being monitored by police given other incidents at both places
03:01where there are a high number of Jewish people living in Sydney's eastern suburbs relatively
03:05speaking as well as the Adas Israel Synagogue in Melbourne which was firebombed last year.
03:11So already measures were in place and now Dr. George Foster says his community will
03:16not be deterred and they'll continue to come to this place to worship.