Huginn and Muninn Intelligence

Australia eyes possible foreign role in antisemitic attacks

Information

Australian police are investigating whether foreign actors have paid local criminals to commit antisemitic offences after a series of attacks on Jewish community sites. These crimes include torching a child care centre, burning cars in Jewish neighbourhoods, and vandalizing synagogues in Sydney, while a synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed in December, injuring one person. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned that some attacks seemed financially motivated rather than ideologically driven, with perpetrators being paid actors. However, the source of these payments remains unclear.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw stated that detectives are probing the possibility of overseas funding for these crimes. The investigation aims to identify who is paying the criminals, their location, and their motivation. Despite the ongoing inquiries, neither Albanese nor the police have provided details on the evidence leading to the suspicion of foreign involvement. Recently, police charged a 33-year-old man with attempting to set a Sydney synagogue on fire and eight others with hate crime-related incidents dating back to November.

Source: AFP, AP

So what

This would not be the first instance of foreign intelligence services using criminal groups to conduct kinetic attacks on their behalf. Specifically, Iran has previously been accused of paying criminal groups to attack Jewish locations throughout Europe over the past 12 to 18 months. It seems highly likely that Iran would be the key suspect for these attacks in Australia also, mainly due to the targets being Jewish. Though it is possible that Australia will publicly accuse Iran of this, it is unlikely Iran will ever admit responsibility; such is the nature of grey zone operations. This leaves Australia in the position of needing to decide their response.

Follow us to join the intelligence community!

For this story and more, check out “The Intel Brief” podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *