Sydney’s Great Synagogue targeted by protesters

Sydney's oldest synagogue, The Great Synagogue, was the target of anti-Israel protesters on Sunday. The demonstrators displayed Palestinian flags and unfurled a banner reading "Sanction Israel" across the front entrance of the synagogue.

The Great Synagogue is situated in the city's central business district, opposite Hyde Park where weekly pro-Palestinian protests are held. It is unclear if the demonstration in front of the synagogue was linked to the Hyde Park protest held on Sunday.  

Jewish communities are increasingly targets for anti-Israel attacks. A few days before the Sydney incident, a memorial to Anne Frank in an Amsterdam park near the family's home was desecrated with the word "Gaza" sprayed on it in red paint.

The targeting of the Synagogue received widespread condemnation from Jewish leaders, Australian politicians and international supporters.

“Targeting a synagogue is pure, unadulterated antisemitism which is intended to have a chilling and intimidating effect on members of the synagogue and the Jewish community more broadly. Despicable conduct such as this is completely antithetical to our Australian way of life. Places of worship are sacred and should be places of safety, refuge and comfort," the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies said in a statement.

"If you have so far remained silent, now is the time to speak up."

Alex Ryvchin, Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the anti-Israel demonstration had the effect of "intimidating and denigrating Jews". 

"The Great Synagogue in Sydney is where Jewish families, mine included, have since 1878 gathered to celebrate marriages and bar mitzvahs, to mark our holy days and recite the mourner’s prayer. It is not an embassy. It is a synagogue," Ryvchin said. 

The Board of Deputies of British Jews released a statement saying "we are horrified by the targeting of Sydney’s Great Synagogue by so-called ‘anti-Israel’ activists. 

"Over the last nine months, many antisemites have sought to sanitise their Jew-hatred by presenting it as 'criticism of Israel'.

"It is time for the general public – including many people understandably concerned by the terrible situation in Gaza – to wake up and realise the deep rot at the heart of the organised 'anti-Israel' movement," the statement from the British Jewish body said.

The left-wing Jewish Council of Australia released a joint statement on social media with the Palestine Action Group, condemning the banner. "It is important to avoid the appearance of blaming all Jews for Israel's human rights abuses," the statement said. "The action of holding this banner outside a synagogue risks conflating Jewish people in general with Israel's crimes."

The statement also sought to distance the banner protest from a pro-Palestinian rally held earlier in Hyde Park across the street. "[On Sunday] afternoon a small number of people were photographed outside Sydney's Great Synagogue holding a banner that stated "Sanction Israel". This action was not endorsed by the organisers of the Palestine Solidarity Rally," the statement said.

The statement was later deleted, the JCA told TJI, while it sought to clarify details of the banner protest.

Note: This story has been updated to correct an incomplete reference to the JCA-Palestine Action Group statement.