Opinion piece by ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin originally published in The Daily Telegraph on 21 November 2024.

No aspect of the racially-motivated vandalism in Woollahra should surprise anyone.

The presence of violent extrem­ists in our cities is a fact of life.

The pro­gres­sion in the rhetoric of anti-Israel fanatics, and their choice of targets, is crystal clear.

They don’t speak of “ceasefire” any more.

They burn the offices of Jewish members of par­lia­ment.

“Peace’’ is not in their vocab­u­lary either, not even to feign mod­er­a­tion.

They hail terrorist leaders as martyrs and hold aloft their portraits on our streets with impunity.

They don’t even pretend their enemy is the “Zionist” anymore.

They taunt and harass families who dare to find joy in Christmas dec­or­a­tions in store windows.

For over a year, the Jewish community has been warning that certain clerics were inciting violence, glor­i­fy­ing the crimes of Hamas, and urging their followers to shift from violent words to violent deeds.

That the weekly rallies on our streets are not only draining public funds and mis­dir­ect­ing police resources, they are inciting Aus­trali­an youth, including primary-school aged children, to view Jewish Aus­trali­ans as their mortal enemies.

We have warned that their hatred is so irra­tion­al and patho­lo­gic­al that it will endanger all Aus­trali­ans, not merely our community.

And so today a Sydney street was ablaze.

The time has come for decisive action against those who target civilians in fur­ther­ance of their political cause, in other words, domestic ter­ror­ists.

The author­it­ies must act against those who bring violence to our streets or incite others to do so by glor­i­fy­ing the actions of des­ig­nated terrorist organ­isa­tions.

If the police lack the powers to act, then the laws must be reformed.

The residents of Woollahra are this morning counting the cost of domestic terrorism.

If we don’t act now, that price will become dearer still.