Police say incidents may have been ‘orchestrated in some manner’ and are ‘chasing every rabbit down every hole’ On a sleepy road on the outskirts of Sydney sat a caravan that would make international headlines. Inside, New South Wales police discovered enough explosives to cause a “potential mass casualty event”, but no detonator. There was a list of Jewish sites and a note that included the words: “Fuck the Jews.” It marked a significant escalation in a wave of antisemitic vandalism and arson attacks over the past months across Sydney. Eleven people have been charged under Strike Force Pearl, which was set up to investigate hate crimes across Sydney, including one man charged on Friday evening with allegedly defacing a wall with Nazi symbols. None have been charged in connection with the caravan. The Guardian does not suggest anyone charged over separate incidents has any connection to the caravan incident. Speaking before the Friday arrest and about the 10 people charged up to that point, the NSW police deputy commissioner, David Hudson, said police had not identified any potential ideological motivation for any of the individuals. “That indicates to us that they are being orchestrated in some manner,” Hudson speculated. It was possible the coordination was “domestic”. “We haven’t ruled anything out,” he said. “We are chasing every rabbit down every hole.” Also speaking on Thursday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, again discussed the possibility that “people are being paid to commit crimes”. The attacks On 5 December, a Melbourne synagogue was gutted by fire. So far no one has been arrested over the attack. It is being treated as an act of terrorism. The torching of the Adass Israel synagogue seemed to trigger a wave of antisemitic vandalism. Most of it has targeted Sydney’s eastern suburbs where there is a significant Jewish community. The vandalism has included anti-Israel statements and antisemitic graffiti. Two synagogues in Sydney were vandalised on 10 January and 11 January with swastikas and an attempt was made to set one on fire. No one has been arrested over the 10 January incident while two men have been charged in relation to the 11 January attack. On 17 January, the former home of one of the most prominent spokespeople for Australia’s Jewish community – Alex Ryvchin – was splashed with red paint and two cars outside were set alight. One vehicle was graffitied with the words “Fuck Jews”. Several days later, on 21 January, a childcare centre in Sydney’s east, which does not have religious affiliations but is located close to a synagogue, was subject to an arson attack and graffitied.
via guardian: Sydney is facing a wave of antisemitic attacks – but what is behind them?