<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>336690</docID> <postdate>2025-01-21 09:08:23</postdate> <headline>Daycare centre attack near synagogue ‘evil hate crime’</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-336691" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20250117129935189752-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="676" /></p> <caption>A house was sprayed with paint and two cars defaced and set alight in Sydney's east last week. (Neve Brissenden/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p>Australia's prime minister vows authorities will "hunt down" perpetrators who spray-painted an offensive slogan on a childcare centre and set it alight.</p> <p>The Only About Children premises on Storey Street in Maroubra was set on fire about 1am on Tuesday morning, police said. It is the fifth major anti-Semitic incident in the Sydney's east in three months.</p> <p>"I utterly condemn this evil hate crime," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.</p> <p>"My government will support NSW Police to hunt down the offenders and ensure they face the full force of the law through Operation Avalite."</p> <p>Officers established a crime scene and are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. The childcare centre is around the corner from the Maroubra Synagogue on Anzac Parade.</p> <p>"Fire and Rescue NSW attended and found the ground floor well alight," police said in a statement.</p> <p>"The blaze was extinguished, however the building sustained extensive damage.</p> <p>"Offensive graffiti was also located spray painted on an external wall."</p> <p>The building was unoccupied at the time of the attack and there are no reports of injuries.</p> <p>Mr Albanese is expected to attend the scene, while NSW Premier Chris Minns was scheduled to hold a press conference to address the incident before 9am.</p> <p>The attack comes with the nation's Jewish community reeling after vandals targeted the former Dover Heights home of Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin on Friday.</p> <p>The house was defaced with slurs and cars were set alight outside.</p> <p>In its wake, legal experts have cast doubt on a federal coalition plan to set minimum jail terms for terrorism offences and displaying hate symbols.</p> <p>Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced his plan for tougher laws to combat anti-Semitism at Bondi Central Synagogue on Monday, as Mr Albanese asked Australian activists for calm during a six-week ceasefire in Gaza.</p> <p>Terrorism offences would attract a minimum of six years in jail under the coalition's proposed laws, while those displaying terrorist organisation signs, Nazi symbols or performing a Nazi salute would face at least a year behind bars.</p> <p>But there was no evidence mandatory sentences deterred offenders, Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns said.</p> <p>"Furthermore, mandatory jail terms lead to injustice," he said.</p> <p>"They force courts to impose sentences where the circumstances do not warrant it because of the nature of offending, or the background of the offender."</p> </body>