(JNS) — The American consulate in Sydney, Australia was vandalized overnight Sunday, with nine windows being broken and pro-Hamas graffiti being sprayed on the door.
Two inverted red triangles were painted over the coat of arms on the consulate’s entrance by a person carrying a small sledgehammer, according to New South Wales police.
Hamas uses the symbol in video and pictures to mark targets for attack.
“I would just say that people should have respectful political debate and discourse,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a televised media conference from the capital Canberra.
“Measures such as painting the U.S. consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is of course a crime, to damage property,” he added.
The same building was vandalized in April, while the American mission in Melbourne was graffitied by pro-Hamas demonstrators in May.
On Wednesday, a member of the “local guard force” at the heavily fotified U.S. Embassy in Beirut was seriously injured in a “shooting incident” outside the mission.
“We are aware that the individual who was arrested was wearing what appeared to be ISIS insignia, but we are conducting a full investigation with the Lebanese authorities on the actual motivations,” said U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller.
According to Arabic-language reports, three gunmen fired on the embassy, although Miller declined to comment on the number of shooters.
Local media reported the gunfight lasted for almost half an hour.
