Josh Burns responds to violent antisemitic attack

At 3:20am on Wednesday, six vandals attacked the office of Jewish MP Josh Burns, lighting fires, smashing glass and splashing red paint inside and outside. The vandals made their antisemitic agenda clear, adding horns to a poster of Burns and spray painting "Zionism is Fascism" on his office window.

In the wake of the attack, Burns prepared this message for The Jewish Independent.

Police are investigating the attack, which closed the Macnamara electorate office in St Kilda. Three fire crews were called after fires were lit inside and outside the office.

Burns told a media conference yesterday that the attack had put local residents' lives and livelihoods at risk. "I'm nervous about someone getting hurt, or worse," he said.

He said the culprits were having no effect on the Middle East but were damaging Australia. "What happened outside my office caused distress to my staff, my team, my community. It didn't bring about peace in the Middle East. It just vandalised an office here in Australia and caused distress. No amount of aggression and violence here in Australia is going to change what's happening in the Middle East."

Victoria Police say since late 2023, 84% of religiously prejudice crimes were antisemitic and 93% of politically motivated crimes were anti-Israel. The data comes from Operation Park, which was established late last year to centralise data on prejudice-motivated crimes, in response to the surge in antisemitism.