MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian detectives are investigating whether foreign actors are paying criminals to commit crimes. Anti-Semitic attacks in the country, police said Wednesday.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw was meeting state police chiefs on Wednesday to discuss the rise in anti-Semitic crime in Australia since the war between Israel and Israel. Hamas Started on October 7, 2023.
“We believe that some of the incidents may have involved hired criminals,” Kershaw told reporters in the national capital, Canberra.
“So part of our inquiries include: who is paying these criminals, where are those people, whether they are in Australia or offshore, and what is their motivation,” Kershaw added.
He did not respond to reporters’ questions.
Detectives are investigating 15 serious allegations of anti-Semitic crimes, Kershaw told federal and state government leaders on Tuesday at a briefing on antisemitism.
“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’re looking at whether — or how — they’ve been paid, for example in cryptocurrency, which may take longer to identify,” he added.
Kershaw said police were also investigating whether the youths were involved in anti-Semitism and whether they had been radicalized online and encouraged to commit anti-Semitic acts.
Prime Minister Anthony Albany on Wednesday declined to comment on who is paying for anti-Semitism in Australia.
“It’s important that people understand where some of these attacks are coming from and it will appear that some of them are being carried out by people who don’t have a specific problem, they’re not motivated by any ideology, but Paying actors,” Albany told reporters.
An arson and graffiti attack Child care center Tuesday’s attack near a Sydney synagogue was the latest in a string of targeted attacks in Australia’s largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to 85 percent of the country’s Jewish population.
Buildings, businesses and cars have been targeted in arson and other attacks. One person was injured due to fire. 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 created to investigate anti-Semitic crime, was increased from 20 to 40. is
Detectives from Strike Force Pearl arrested 33-year-old Adam Edward Mull on Tuesday night and charged him with attempting to set fire to a house of worship in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown on January 11.
A liquid accelerant burned without setting the building on fire. Red swastikas were also painted on an outer wall.
Mull was due to appear in a Sydney court on Wednesday on a number of charges but his case was adjourned until Thursday to give him time to instruct a lawyer. Until then, he will remain in custody.
Police say that Moll’s alleged accomplice is expected to be arrested soon.
