Two men, ages 22 and 25, were arrested in Sydney after threatening Jewish worshippers with a fake gun as they left a Chabad synagogue following Shabbat services. The incident occurred in the Double Bay neighborhood, near the site of the brutal Bondi Beach massacre.
According to Australian media reports, police were called to the scene following reports of a person pointing what appeared to be a weapon at worshippers from inside a vehicle. Large police forces arrived at the scene, located the vehicle in a nearby neighborhood, arrested the two suspects, and during a search of the car seized a gun that was later determined to be a replica.
The suspects were taken for questioning at the police station and remain in custody. According to reports, charges against them are expected to be filed soon. Meanwhile, investigators continued gathering testimony from people who were outside the synagogue at the time of the incident.
The incident occurred about seven months after the massacre at a Hanukkah party in Bondi Beach, in which 15 people were murdered and about 40 others were injured. The attack, carried out by a father and son who identified with the ISIS terror organization, led to the establishment of a royal commission to investigate the circumstances of the attack and the response to it.
The current incident joins a series of antisemitic incidents in Australia in recent months, amid a rise in threats and violence against the Jewish community in the country. In about three weeks, another round of hearings by the commission established following the massacre is scheduled to open in Sydney.