Australian police foil anti-semitic attack involving explosives

Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned anti-semitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives, in an escalation of threats against the Jewish community that authorities called terrorism.

The caravan was discovered on January 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 km (22 miles) northwest of the centre of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

“That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of anti-semitic attack,” he said.

The threat had been fully contained and there was no further threat to the Jewish community, the official added.

Hudson said arrests had been made but did not disclose how many or what the charges were.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said over 100 officers were investigating the incident under a joint counter-terrorism operation involving state and federal police.

“This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There is only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism,” he said.

Australia has suffered a spate of anti-semitic incidents in recent months, with attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose centre-left Labor Party faces re-election in polls that must be held by May, has been criticised by the opposition over the rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the country.

The government says it has taken extra steps to protect the Jewish community, including more funding and a federal taskforce to investigate anti-semitic incidents.