UK national's visa canceled for voicing 'pro-Nazi ideology'

Rabbi’s car with ‘Happy Chanukah’ sign torched in Melbourne, as antisemitism wave persists

Vehicle was parked in heart of Jewish St. Kilda East neighborhood; no injuries reported; separately, Australian authorities charge man over online support for Bondi attack

A car carrying a sign celebrating Hanukkah was set ablaze in Melbourne early Thursday, the latest assault on Australian Jewish community members amid a spike in antisemitism.

The empty car, which had a “Happy Chanukah” sign fixed to the roof, was scorched from the inside after reportedly being firebombed while parked in the driveway of a house, images on national broadcaster ABC television showed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced the “evil” attack, which came as the country was still reeling from a mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach in Sydney that killed 15 people and injured dozens of others.

The car was set alight in the early hours of Thursday morning in the Melbourne neighborhood of St. Kilda East, Victoria police said in a statement, describing it as a “suspicious fire.”

Occupants of the house were evacuated as a precaution. There were no injuries reported.

“Detectives have identified a person who may be able to assist with their investigation and they are actively searching for and making enquiries into their whereabouts,” police said.

The attack apparently happened shortly before 3 a.m. on Balaclava Road, which passes through a major Jewish neighborhood, and close to the location of a number of Jewish institutes, including a large Orthodox Jewish girls’ high school.

Rabbi Effy Block, of the local Chabad of St. Kilda, said the car belonged to a rabbi and his family, ABC reported.

“Thank God no people were harmed,” Block told AFP, saying it was clearly an antisemitic attack.

“But this is a continuing escalation, where we see these events happening again and again,” he added. “My Jewish community in St. Kilda and Melbourne do not feel safe in their own homes and country.”

Jewish security group CSG Victoria said it was in “close contact” with police and that it will continue “operating at a heightened level with increased patrols.” It urged the community to be vigilant.

“Yet again, antisemitism that has been allowed to fester over the past two years has manifested in a dangerous attack in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community,” MP David Southwick, who represents St. Kilda East, wrote in a post on X.

“This incident will spread further fear through a community still mourning after the horrific Bondi massacre,” said Southwick, who is Jewish.

When asked about the incident as he attended a Christmas event in Sydney, Albanese said it was “beyond comprehension.”

“What sort of evil ideology and thoughts at a time like this would motivate someone?” he said. “We know that there is evil present. We saw that with this father and son terrorist atrocity at Bondi Beach.”

“If it is not mass murder of 15 people, it’s the firebombing of a car,” said Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich in a statement. “This is the same sickness and evil moving forward and sending a message to the Jewish community: don’t be visible, don’t celebrate, don’t exist openly.”

On December 14, a father and son allegedly opened fire on the Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach, sparking calls for the Australian government to do more to stop antisemitism.

Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the attack, and his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, are accused of targeting a gathering of some 1,000 Jews at the event, in Australia’s worst mass shooting since 1996. Police say they both followed the Islamic State terror group ideology, and the younger Akram was recorded saying he was motivated by the Islamic text, the Quran.

Many have blamed the ruling Labor Party for a lack of action in response to warnings and cries for help from Australian Jews over rising antisemitism in the two years since the start of the war in Gaza.

Critics, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have also blamed the devastating attack on Albanese’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state earlier this year, as well as his “appeasement” to growing anti-Israel sentiment in his country. Albanese categorically rejected the assertion that the shooting was linked to his decisions.

Over the past year, Jews in Australia have seen synagogues, schools and homes firebombed, two nurses threatening to kill Jewish patients in their hospital, and the discovery of a trailer filled with explosives said to have been intended to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.

Australian authorities are stiffening laws and penalties for hate crimes after the Bondi Beach attack.

Man charged over support for Bondi attack

Separately, an Australian man has been charged and detained after allegedly posting a message on social media backing the mass shooting at Bondi Beach.

A court in Western Australia heard that police found six licensed firearms, 4,000 rounds of unsecured ammunition, and antisemitic material in his home, local media said.

Detectives raided the suspect’s home on Tuesday, Western Australia Police said in a statement.

He was charged with intent to racially harass, carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon, and failing to properly store a firearm or related material.

The suspect, named in local media as 39-year-old Perth man Martin Thomas Glynn, appeared in Fremantle Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

In a social media post, he allegedly expressed “100 percent support” for the December 14 mass shooting at the Jewish festival, media reports said.

Glynn reportedly told the court he did not intend to harm anyone and was trying to contrast the Bondi attack with the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.

He was remanded in custody until his next court hearing in February, local media said.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the man was not believed to be part of a network.

“We think this is an individual who has made these comments online, and we are still yet to assess the threat of that individual,” he told reporters.

Albanese said he had been briefed on the arrest.

“There is no place in Australia for antisemitism, hate and violent ideologies,” he said in a statement. “I thank the work of the WA Police in quickly identifying this individual and acting immediately.”

UK man’s visa revoked over ‘pro-Nazi ideology’

Meanwhile, Australia canceled the visa of a British national after he was charged with displaying a banned Nazi symbol, the immigration minister said on Wednesday.

The government revoked the visa of a 43-year-old man who was charged on December 8 with displaying a Nazi symbol and advocating for violence against the Jewish community on social media platform X, according to the Australian Federal Police.

“If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corp, referring to the British citizen.

“If someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave,” he said.

Burke and the federal police did not name the British man, but the federal police said he displayed the Nazi Hakenkreuz — a type of swastika — and espoused “pro-Nazi ideology with a specific hatred of the Jewish community” from two X accounts from October to November.

After having his visa revoked, the man, who was living in the state of Queensland, was taken into immigration detention and would be deported unless he voluntarily left first, media reports said.

As part of the government’s response to the Bondi Beach shooting and calls for heightened action against antisemitism, Burke said he plans to lower the legal thresholds for a person’s antisemitic actions to be illegal. He has previously said that antisemitic groups intentionally curb their language to avoid criminal charges while violating Australian community standards.

He also said that for a visa cancellation, the authorities needed to prove a person’s actions had a harmful impact on the community, but “incitement of hate should be enough.”

“We should be able to cancel visas on that basis alone,” Burke told the ABC. “There will… be legislation to increase my powers to make cancellations of exactly this nature.”