Two Jewish siblings were wounded in a stabbing attack in Melbourne, Australia Saturday night, local news media has reported.
According to the Australian Jewish News, local Jewish institutions have beefed up security following the stabbing incident, which took place in Caulfield North, a suburb of Melbourne, at around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
The victims have been identified as a 25-year-old Jewish woman and her 22-year-old brother.
The pair were attacked while standing outside of a private home on Inkerman Street in Caulfield North, an area with a large Jewish population.
According to Victoria Police, the suspect was a Caucasian male in his early 20s.
Local police told the AJN that the suspect walked up to the two victims “without speaking and hit the man and cut the woman with an unknown object before walking away.”
“The woman has been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the man was treated at the scene for minor injuries.”
The male victim was reportedly struck in the head, while his sister suffered wounds to her shoulder and face.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said that there was no evidence yet that the attacker had specifically targeted the two victims, The Herald Sun reported.
But Anti-Defamation Commission Chairman Dr. Dvir Abramovich suggested the victims were likely singled out as Jews, and called for authorities to investigate the assault as a hate-crime.
“If this assault, which is shocking on many levels, was in fact driven by anti-Semitism, it should be investigated as a hate-crime,” Abramovich said.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this ugly and violent attack on individuals who were visibly identifiable as Jews, and our thoughts are with the victims.”