Police are investigating after the centre was set alight and graffitied just after 1am.
Fire crews were called to the centre on Storey Street in Maroubra to find the ground floor well involved in fire, along with “offensive graffiti” spray painted on an outside wall, according to police.
Police said the building was significantly damaged and confirmed the centre was unoccupied at the time.
A crime scene has been established and an investigation is underway into the circumstances surrounding the fire.
Prime Minister Albanese, alongside Premier Chris Minns and investigators, visited the centre this morning.
Speaking nearby, Albanese condemned the attack as an “evil hate crime”.
“My government will support NSW Police to hunt down the offenders and ensure they face the full force of the law through Operation Avalite,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minns said it was a “terrible” incident.
The home in Dover Heights used to belong to Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and a prominent figure in the Jewish community.
Multiple cars were sprayed with graffiti, two set on fire and a home, formerly owned by a prominent figure in the Jewish community, splashed with red paint.
Ryvchin released a statement on social media this morning, calling on national cabinet to deal with these attacks as a “national emergency”.
“To plan and execute the firebombing of a childcare centre requires a depth of savagery that is difficult to imagine,” he said.
“Today, families will be having conversations about whether it’s safe to send their children to the places where they should be safest. Places of worship, homes and now pre-schools have all been targeted by domestic terrorists.
“Antisemitism consumes everything. It is the disease that is destroying our country.”
Ryvchin is a prominent figure in Australia’s Jewish community and has been a vocal figurehead for peace in Sydney since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 7, 2023.
Anti-Defamation Commission Chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich said the attack was a “chilling reminder that antisemitism knows no boundaries”.
“Australia has woken up to an act of cowardly antisemitic terror that stains the very ground it was committed on,” he said.
“The deliberate destruction of a childcare centre, compounded by the vile smearing of antisemitic graffiti on its walls, is nothing short of an attack on the moral fabric of our society.
“This is not just a fire—it is a blazing symbol of the hatred festering beneath the surface, daring us to confront it with unyielding resolve.”