Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned on Monday the vandalism that occurred at the US consulate building in Sydney, which local media reported appeared to be a pro-Palestinian protest. New South Wales Police stated that the building, located in the northern suburbs of Australia's largest city, was attacked and spray-painted by a person wearing a dark jacket and concealing their face, who carried a small hammer, at around 3 AM local time on Monday. When asked about the incident during a televised press conference from Canberra, Albanese said, "I would just like to say that people should have respectful political discussion and discourse." He added that "actions like painting the wall of the US consulate do nothing to support the cause of those who commit what is, of course, a crime of property destruction."
Photos published by the Sydney Morning Herald showed inverted red triangles painted on the front of the consulate building, and the newspaper noted that this symbol is used by some pro-Palestinian activists. It's worth mentioning that the building itself was vandalized with graffiti in April, and the newspaper reported that pro-Palestinian activists also painted graffiti on the walls of the US consulate in Melbourne in May. Additionally, Australia, a long-standing strong ally of Israel, has increasingly criticized its actions in Gaza, where an Australian aid worker was killed in an Israeli attack earlier this year. Last month, protests were held at universities in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and other Australian cities against the Israeli war in Gaza, with protesters stating that the Australian government had not done enough to push for peace.
