Police are investigating the firebombing of a car parked on the grounds of a Jewish school here, the latest incident in a wave of anti-Semitic activity.
The vehicle, owned by the caretaker at the East Hawthorn campus of Bialik College, had been daubed three days earlier with the words, “The car will burn, Jude.”
The marking followed the appearance of graffiti such as “Heil Germany” and “Die Jews Burn” written with a blue marker in the same handwriting.
The incident was the latest demonstration of anti-Semitic graffiti, vandalism and assaults on people and property that has swept Melbourne this year.
Although there are no publicly identified neo-Nazi or racist groups in the city, over 70 anti-Semitic incidents have been recorded in Melbourne this year, more than double the number for all of the rest of Australia.
The attacks on Jewish property began after a sensational broadcast about anti-Semitism in Australia ran on a popular television program.
In typical incidents, bricks were hurled through the plate-glass windows of a Jewish-owned grocery, and a private home was daubed with Nazi slogans.
Mal Sandon, the minister of police and emergency services in the Victoria state government, said a team of detectives has been assigned to investigate the attacks.
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