Are Foreign Actors Funding a Wave of Anti-Semitic Attacks? Australian Police Investigate

Australian police are investigating whether foreign actors are paying local criminals to carry out a wave of anti-Semitic attacks, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday.

The wave: Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Sydney and Melbourne have had an onslaught of hate crimes targeting Jewish communities. These two cities are home to 84 percent of Australia’s Jewish population.

The hate crimes include:

• Synagogues being firebombed and defaced with graffitied swastikas
• Cars in majority Jewish neighborhoods being burned and vandalized with racial smears

On Tuesday, a child-care center near a synagogue in Sydney was set on fire and sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti. Thankfully no one was injured in the attack.

Paid crimes: On Wednesday, Albanese released a statement saying that some of these crimes “are being perpetrated by people who don’t have a particular issue, aren’t motivated by an ideology, but are paid actors.”

“It’s unclear who or where the payments are coming from,” he added.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the police would investigate “whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs.”

Charges: Albanese said 36 people in New South Wales have been charged with “anti-Semitic related offenses.” In Victoria, 70 arrests have been made.

• On Tuesday, eight people were charged for a series of “hate crime-related incidents” that date back to November.
• On Wednesday, a 33-year-old man was charged with trying to set a Sydney synagogue on fire earlier this month.

Persecution: The attacks in Australia show an increase in persecution of the Jewish community. The evil force behind these attacks is a threat—not only to Jews but to the whole world.

Learn more: Read “The One Minority Society Loves to Hate.”