Police say the vehicle was set alight in the driveway of a property in St Kilda East in the early hours of Christmas Day
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A car with a “Happy Chanukah” sign has been firebombed in a Melbourne suburb in the early hours of Christmas morning.
The suspected antisemitic incident comes less than two weeks after the terror attack that targeted Jews celebrating the holiday of Hanukah at Sydney’s Bondi beach and claimed 15 lives.
Police said emergency services were called to a vehicle displaying a mobile billboard that had been set alight in the driveway of a property in St Kilda East about 2.50am.
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Guardian Australia has seen images of the damaged car with a sign which said “Happy Chanukah!”
No one was inside the car at the time of the incident but the occupants of the house were evacuated as a precaution, police said.
“Detectives have identified a person who may be able to assist with their investigation and they are actively searching for and making inquiries into their whereabouts,” police said.
The Jewish protection group CSG Victoria noted the presence on the car of the chanukiah symbol, a nine-branched candelabrum associated with Hanukah celebrations.
It confirmed no community members had been hurt in the incident and it remained in close contact with police.
“CSG has already been operating at a heightened level with increased patrols and will continue to do so,” the group said in an Instagram post.
Naomi Levin, CEO of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, said “the Australian Jewish community remains on edge.”
“This is a continuation of the daily fear the Jewish community has had to live in for the past two years, and even more so after Bondi,” Levin said.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allen said in a statement posted online that she had been briefed by police about what “the community rightly fear is an anti-Semitic incident.”
“This is not what any family, street or community deserves to wake up to on Christmas Day in Australia,” Allen said.
“This little car has been driving around town spreading the Hanukkah and holiday cheer. I even saw one drive past when I was in Caulfield on Monday afternoon.”
She said the police were working closely with community leadership to investigate the incident.
“We have a duty to this community: to ensure their families are safe and feel safe right now, and to work long-term in a serious effort to drive anti-Semitism and hate out of our state.”
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said: “The ECAJ understands that the firebombing in Melbourne this morning is an isolated incident, and that the Melbourne Jewish community is not at further risk.”
The prime minister, in a statement posted online said “Australia’s Jewish community is in mourning after the Bondi terrorist attack. The firebombing of a car in Melbourne is another terrible act of suspected antisemitism.”
“Federal authorities stand ready to assist. There is no place in Australia for this kind of hatred and it has to stop,” Albanese said.
It is a common practice of Jewish organisations such as Chabad during this period to put a Chanukiah or signs on top of cars.
In the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack a video of one of the victims, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was widely shared of him dancing as he put a Chanukiah on top of his van in a video captioned “Here’s the best response to combat antisemitism”.
