Australian detectives are investigating whether foreign actors are paying criminals to commit antisemitic attacks in the country, police said on Wednesday.
Australia Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw was meeting on Wednesday with state police chiefs to discuss an increase in antisemitic crime in Australia since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct 7, 2023.
“We believe criminals-for-hire may be behind some incidents,” Kershaw told reporters in the national capital, Canberra.
“So part of our inquiries include: Who is paying those criminals, where those people are, whether they are in Australia or offshore, and what their motivation is,” Kershaw added.
He did not take questions from reporters.
Kershaw told federal and state government leaders on Tuesday in a briefing on antisemitism that detectives were investigating 15 serious allegations of antisemitic crime.
“We are looking into whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs,” Kershaw said after Tuesday's meeting.
“We are looking at if — or how — they have been paid, for example in cryptocurrency, which can take longer to identify,” he added.
Police were also investigating whether young people were involved in antisemitism and if they had been radicalized online and encouraged to commit antisemitic acts, Kershaw said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday declined to comment on who might be paying for antisemitic crime in Australia.
“It is important that people understand where some of these attacks are coming from and it would appear ... that some of these are being perpetrated by people who don’t have a particular issue, aren’t motivated by an ideology, but are paid actors,” Albanese told reporters.
An arson and graffiti attack on a childcare center near a Sydney synagogue on Tuesday is the latest in a spate of targeted attacks in Australia’s largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to 85% of the country's Jewish population.
The fires and other attacks have targeted buildings, businesses and cars. One person suffered burn injuries in a fire that was set at a Melbourne synagogue in December.
After the childcare center fire, New South Wales Police said the number of detectives working for Strike Force Pearl, which was formed to investigate antisemitic crime, had been doubled from 20 to 40.
Strike Force Pearl detectives arrested a 33-year-old man on Tuesday night and charged him with attempting to burn down a synagogue in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown on Jan. 11.
A liquid accelerant burned out without the building catching fire. Red swastikas were also painted on an exterior wall.
Police say the man’s alleged accomplice was expected to be arrested soon.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
12 Comments
Login to comment
JJE
Canberra passing the buck again.
Australia has long had an ingrained neo-nazi problem.
Looking for someone else to blame won't change that.
Zaphod
JJE
Yes and no. Radical islamists and their leftist sympathizers are not "long ingrained", and neither do they need paid thugs or crypto currency. Ideological brainwashing is enough.
GuruMick
Why would the Police Anti Terror Squad be concerned with grafitti if it was not for the power of the Jewish Lobby.
Christiaan Churches, Mosques, Hindu Temples get graffitied....never heard the Anti Terror Squad being called in.
These are just normal police matters.
A photo of two alleged offenders showed them with PUSHBIKES !!!!!!
Can you get an idea of the level of "terror " if the offenders dont have cars because they are too young ?
Overreaction.
GuruMick
People might remember a right wing Politician ...still in the Senate, I believe , who ran on various racist platforms....ant Aborigine, anti Asian immigration, finally settling on anti Islam.
No mental colossus, her parties platform lead with "Adherence to the Australian Constitution " and a few lines down "no more Mosques to be built in Australia "
Well, the Australian Constitution prohibits any discrimination based on religious grounds.
No Anti Terror Squad called in , despite her leading COUNTLESS RALLIES opposing Muslim immigration.
In other parts of Australia, country Victoria for example, rallies were held with nasty banners saying "Muslims Out " and "No Muslim Immigration "
No anti Terror squad called.
Now today, some idiot kids photo graphed WITH PUSHBIKES spraying nasty grafitti on a Synagogue causes the Anti Terror Squad to be called in.
These offences are grafitti offences, not nice, but not of itself terrorising. These are local Police matters.
UNLESS the group you are targeting has political sway
Please mod...dont delete this but can readers see a difference in law enforcement and political approaches.
Dont Muslims matter as much as any other groups ?
GuruMick
Right wing politician was Pauline Hanson....her voice would crush concrete
GuruMick
Zhaphod....people get freaking annoyed at genocide being enabled in Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands marched in many countries in Europe, USA, Latin America, Australia and more.
In any group totaling a million or more there will be some who take measures others would not.
Focus on the cause....blowing the limbs of little kids with 2000 pound bombs dropped indiscriminately
Peter14
@GuruMick has pretty much covered what needs saying on this topic from an Australian point of view.
Lets not get carried away playing the "antisemitic" card which is just worm out at this point.
The only instance that could have been classed as terrorism, is if the inept attempt by the kiddies on pushbikes to set fire to a synagogue had been successful. Thankfully it seems their parents never let them play with matches.
Stay alert but dont go overboard. Common sense required.
Peter14
worm out
*Worn out.
Fighto!
Are you suggesting the likes of Mohammed Farhat - one of these 9 arrested - and his comrades, are part of a "neo-nazi problem"?
That's one hell of a stretch.
In the words of NSW Premier Minns - "Throw the book at these animals"
WoodyLee
Probably NO ONE,
My guess is Gaza Genocide is causing all of this.
WoodyLee
No different than the Settlers attacks on the Semitic citizens of Palestine
GuruMick
I doubt radical Muslims connect with the ideas of Hitler and the "purity of races " idea.
Keep it real folks.