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An antisemitic bomb attack has been foiled in Australia, police announced on Wednesday.
According to Australian police, a trailer loaded with explosives was found in the state of New South Wales, intended to be used to harm Jews. The trailer was marked with the words "F**k the Jews" and several addresses of targets, including a synagogue in Sydney. Police are treating the threat as credible, but announced that there is no longer a threat to the public.
Australian media reports that the trailer filled with explosives was discovered on January 19, after it was left abandoned in the town of Doral, north of Sydney, and a local resident towed it to his house without checking what was inside. When he opened the trailer, he found the explosives and called police.
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![A car was set on fire and antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on buildings in Sydney suburb (Photo: Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC)) סידני אוסטרליה מכונית הוצתה וכתובות אנטישמיות רוססו על מבנים בפרבר וולארה](https://ynet-pic1.yit.co.il/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto/picserver6/crop_images/2024/12/11/SJ8C6c841e/SJ8C6c841e_0_41_1246_701_0_x-large.jpg)
![A car was set on fire and antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on buildings in Sydney suburb (Photo: Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC)) סידני אוסטרליה מכונית הוצתה וכתובות אנטישמיות רוססו על מבנים בפרבר וולארה](https://ynet-pic1.yit.co.il/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto/picserver6/crop_images/2024/12/11/SJ8C6c841e/SJ8C6c841e_0_41_1246_701_0_x-large.jpg)
A car was set on fire and antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on buildings in Sydney suburb
(Photo: Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC))
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.
Alongside the assessment that this is part of a terrorist plot and a real threat, Australian media reports that investigators are also looking into the possibility that the trailer marked with the anti-Jewish message was left there to increase tensions in Australia and fuel the wave of antisemitism there. An Australian source told the Daily Telegraph that "something is not right" in the case.
The revelation of the trailer and explosives comes against the backdrop of a wave of antisemitic attacks that have shaken the Jewish community of Australia in general and Sydney in particular in recent months amid the war between Israel and Hamas. This wave of attacks has included an attack on a children's daycare center last week, in which the building was set on fire and the words 'F**k the Jews' were written on one of the walls. There were no people in the daycare center at the time of the attack and no one was injured. At this time, no suspect has been arrested in the case.
Last month, Australia established a special team to deal with antisemitic attacks, and so far it has received more than 160 reports of anti-Semitic crimes, mainly the spraying of antisemitic graffiti and acts of vandalism, including in synagogues. Last week, Australia admitted that it suspects that overseas elements are behind the wave of antisemitic attacks, and that they are paying criminals inside Australia using cryptocurrencies to carry them out, thus undermining social order and terrorizing the Jewish community. Some in the Jewish community suspect that Iran is responsible.
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Last month, after a synagogue was set on fire in Melbourne , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Australia's center-left government led by Anthony Albanese, linking its criticism of Israel to antisemitic attacks.
"Unfortunately, this criminal act cannot be separated from the anti-Israel spirit that emanates from the Australian Labor government, including the scandalous decision to vote in favor of the UN resolution demanding an end to 'Israel's illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible,'" Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also mentioned Australia's decision to prevent former right-wing government minister Ayelet Shaked from entering its territory. Albanese, for his part, claimed that Netanyahu and his government were trying to exploit the antisemitic attacks for political purposes.