A Porsche-driving broker has been sentenced to five years in jail for managing a series of anti-Semitic attacks aimed at dividing Australia’s Jewish and Arab communities.
Nicholas James Alexander admitted to orchestrating the Sydney bombings and attacks in January 2025.
He hired others to bomb a kindergarten in Maroubra and set cars on fire at the former home of senior Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin.
Anti-Semitic slurs and swastikas were also painted on cars and a synagogue.
The 32-year-old said he acted on instructions from strangers abroad and was not motivated by racial hatred.
“I bear no ill will towards the Jewish community,” Alexander wrote in a letter to Sydney’s Downing Center local court.
“My actions, for which I took responsibility, have a completely financial motivation.”
He pleaded guilty to knowingly directing a criminal group and six counts of being an accessory to destruction of property.
He organized the use of stolen cars in the attacks, explained how to make and use Molotov cocktails, arranged for firearms to be passed around, and coordinated drop-off points.
While accepting that he was remorseful and not motivated by race, Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson rejected the reasons for the crime.
Owning a Porsche meant he was not without financial resources, he noted.
Alexander was motivated by financial reward and knew the crimes would create fear in the Australian Jewish community and beyond, the magistrate found.
The series of attacks was a deliberate tactic to divide Australia’s Arab and Jewish communities to further the masterminds’ goals overseas, Atkinson said.
“The immense anguish that the Jewish community was already experiencing grew worse day by day throughout the month of January,” he said.
“These events were also an attack on wider Australian society, by people outside our community. They were aimed at dividing our community.”
He played a crucial role for foreign meddlers, who would have no way of influencing events in Australia without people like Alexander willing to implement their plans.
Alexander did not react because he was imprisoned for five years.
He will be eligible for parole in mid-2028.
The headline sentence is the highest penalty available to a New South Wales magistrate for any set of offences.
Ryvchin, whose former home was defaced in the attacks, said he believed the sentence was appropriate.
“This man’s decision to attack a nursery and family home left people fearing for their lives and the safety of their children,” said the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jews.
“They made Australian Jews question their place in this country and changed patterns of behavior between Jews and non-Jews.
