A swastika was carved into the window of a Jewish-owned bagel shop in Sydney weeks before its opening, prompting police to launch an investigation.
Officers were alerted to reports of malicious damage at Lox in a Box, located on Oxford Street in Paddington, on Thursday.
Inquiries determined that the etching was done on 21 March, according to a police spokesperson.
The damage was not immediately visible. The shopfront windows had been covered with brown paper following painting work, and the marking was only discovered earlier this week when the covering was removed.
The business is preparing to open its fourth outlet on 9 April, adding to existing locations in Bondi, Coogee and Marrickville. Renovations had been under way at the Paddington site ahead of the planned launch.
Owner Candy Berger said the discovery had been deeply distressing.
“I stood there in shock, thinking about what that symbol represents. What it has meant to my people,” she said.
“I am the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, and today felt like a punch that landed deeper than most.”
She said the timing of the incident felt deliberate, coming shortly before Passover, a Jewish festival commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
“We will not let this break us,” she wrote. “We will not let it close our doors or dim the light of something we’ve worked so hard to build.”
Police said an investigation was ongoing.
The vandalism is the incident of alleged antisemitism reported in Sydney’s eastern suburbs since Israel launched a devastating war on Gaza in 2023 following a Hamas attack. The area is home to a large Jewish community.
Multiple reports of cars being set on fire and homes being vandalised in the area preceded a deadly attack at a Hanukkah event near Bondi Beach in December that left 15 people dead.
Following the attack, a well-known bakery in Surry Hills, Avner’s, closed permanently. A message posted on its shopfront said it could no longer guarantee the safety of staff or customers.
“In the wake of the pogrom at Bondi one thing has become clear – it is no longer possible to make outwardly, publicly, proudly Jewish places and events safe in Australia,” the notice read.
Chef Ed Halmagyi, who ran the bakery, said the decision followed prolonged targeting of the business, describing “almost ceaseless antisemitic harassment, vandalism and intimidation” over a two-year period.
Lox in a Box too has previously reported being targeted. After the Bondi attack, the company temporarily shut all of its locations and later said it had received a surge of negative online reviews.
“This is what I woke to in my inbox,” Berger wrote at the time. “It’s so disheartening, where’s our collective humanity? Antisemitism is not a joke ... posting negative antisemitic reviews can really harm a small business like ours.”
Despite the latest incident, Berger expressed gratitude for support received from police and the Community Security Group, a Jewish organisation.
Elsewhere in Australia, authorities have taken action in response to the use of Nazi symbols. In December 2025, a British national living in Queensland had his visa cancelled after allegedly posting swastikas online, promoting alleged pro-Nazi ideology and calling for violence against Jewish people.
Home minister Tony Burke said at the time: "He came here to hate, he doesn't get to stay."
Separately, in Western Australia, a man was fined after tattooing a swastika on his chin. Although he later modified the tattoo, he pleaded guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol in public, alongside other offences.
The incidents come amid a broader crackdown by police and lawmakers on extremist symbols and rising concerns about antisemitism.
