A popular inner-city bakery has been defaced with shocking anti-Semitic graffiti, with a threatening note reading ‘Be careful’, but the owner has defiantly left the graffiti there.
Avner’s Bakery in Surry Hills, Sydney, was hit by the menacing attack sometime between 10pm on Saturday and 1.30am on Sunday, which involved an inverted red triangle painted on the bakery’s window and the note slipped under the door.
The triangle is a Nazi symbol used to mark individuals in concentration camps and has been used by the terrorist group Hamas to identify Jewish targets.
Former TV chef and Better Homes and Gardens star Ed Halmagyi, the owner of the bakery, revealed the shocking attack on his social media channels.
“Being Jewish in Sydney, 2024 edition,” read his post on Sunday morning.
‘This note was slipped under the door of our bakery overnight.
“But the fact is that it is difficult to be intimidated by middle-class inner-city cosplay radicals who have completed primary school without a pen diploma.”
But Mr Halmagyi decided not to wash graffiti from the bakery’s window on Sunday morning because “people need to know” it happened.
A popular bakery has been defaced with shocking anti-Semitic graffiti, with a threatening note reading ‘be careful’ – but owner Ed Halmagyi (pictured) defiantly left the graffiti there
A threatening note (photo) was slipped under the door of the bakery at night
The bakery was open on Sunday and customers drank coffee in the sun while the triangular symbol was still visible.
The former Better Homes and Gardens star continued to serve customers on Sunday afternoons.
“The only reason I didn’t delete it this morning… I thought about it, but I thought, that’s a really stupid thing to do, because people need to know that these things happen,” he shared The Australian.
“The reaction of wanting to immediately scrub it off and pretending it’s not there.” That implies two things. First, that it was effective and that I felt vulnerable in some way.
‘And at the same time it says that you are a victim of your circumstances. “I am not a victim,” he said.
Mr Halmagyi said many people came to his shop on Sunday to ask if everything was OK.
“I’m fine, but the fact that they wanted to find out is really representative of the community we’re building,” he said.
The bakery, on Bourke Street near the CBD, opened earlier this year and sells Eastern European and Jewish products.
Avner’s Bakery (pictured) in Surry Hills, Sydney, was hit by the threatened attack sometime between 10pm on Saturday and 1.30am on Sunday
It is the latest anti-Semitic attack to hit Australia following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel, in which terrorists crossing from Gaza massacred 1,139 Israeli civilians and took 251 hostages.
Of the people taken hostage during the attacks, 97 are still missing; 105 were released in exchange for prisoners, four were unilaterally released by Hamas and eight were rescued by the Israeli army.
A year after the attacks, Israel has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in its response in Gaza.
NSW Police have been contacted for comment.