Man charged after firebombing outside Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin’s former home

By BRETT LACKEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 21:19 GMT, 19 February 2025 | Updated: 21:49 GMT, 19 February 2025

A man has been charged after the former Sydney home of Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin was targeted in an anti-Jewish attack.

Early in the morning on January 17, multiple cars parked on Military Road in Dover Heights were spray painted with antisemitic slogans, and two were firebombed.

Mr Ryvchin’s former home was also splashed with red paint, and residents woke to the sound of the cars ‘exploding’.

After an investigation by NSW Police, a man was arrested at a prison on Wednesday and taken to Riverstone police station.

He was charged with accessory before the fact to damaging property by means of fire or explosion.

Police allege the man, aged 37, was also involved in another separate antisemitic attack.

CCTV of the January 17 incident showed two figures dressed in black on the street about 3am.

One of them moves from the boot of a car towards Mr Rychin’s former home before the house is splashed with red paint, while the other figure can be seen pouring liquid from a red jerry can onto the street. 

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin, with wife Vicki Ryvchin, at their former home in Dover Heights, eastern Sydney, after it was targeted by an anti-Semitic attack 

A car was graffitied and firebombed in the Dover Heights attack on January 17 (pictured)

Mr Ryvchin, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO, said his former house appeared to have been targetted ‘of all the houses and all the streets in this neighbourhood’ and that he had lived there for many years.

‘This is was my family home… It’s where my wife and I brought our youngest daughter home from the hospital. It’s where we hunkered down during Covid, and when the school shut I attempted to homeschool my oldest daughter here.’

‘My family came to this country from the Soviet Union to escape antisemitism. This is the greatest and most fortunate country on earth, I honestly believe that.

‘But if we allow these things to keep happening, they slowly define our national character and they change who we are as a people.’

One person can be seen pouring flammable liquid next to the former home of Alex Ryvchin

The person is then captured lighting the fire, which causes an explosion 

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Man charged after firebombing outside Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin’s former home

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