A Jewish youth centre in Sydney has been targeted in an attack that community leaders say is clearly linked to the war between Israel and Hezbollah. It is the second anti-Semitic attack in Sydney in four days. NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said today that attackers had failed in their bid to set fire to the Jewish youth movement centre, adjacent to the Mizrachi Synagogue on Old South Head Road at Bondi. Investigations had shown the assailants had doused wooden blocks inside the building with petrol and tried to set them alight. The building, which is undergoing construction, was vacant at the time. Mr Alhadeff said the incident was clearly linked to tensions in the Middle East. "Whenever there is a rise in tensions in the Middle East, there is a clear increase in the number of anti-Semitic attacks in Australia," Mr Alhadeff said. "Racism has no place in our society." The Parramatta Synagogue, in Sydney's west, was the target of an anti-Semitic attack on Sunday evening when projectiles were hurled at its roof and blocks of concrete were thrown at two cars, smashing windows. NSW Police have responded by stepping up patrols outside Jewish and Islamic sites.
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