AFPThe Australian Federal Police said it was investigating whether “foreign actors or individuals” were paying criminals to commit anti-Semitic crimes in the country.
There have been a series of such incidents in recent months, with the latest seeing a Sydney daycare set on fire and covered in anti-Jewish graffiti. No one was injured.
In response, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an early cabinet meeting, during which officials agreed to create a national database to track anti-Semitic incidents.
So far, the federal police task force, created in December to investigate such incidents, has received more than 166 reports of anti-Semitic crimes.
“We are investigating whether foreign actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to commit some of these crimes in our suburbs,” said Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw, adding that he was possible that cryptocurrency is involved.
Identifying the digital currency may take longer, Mr. Kershaw said.
The commissioner said police were also investigating whether young people were committing these crimes and whether they had been radicalized online.
However, Mr Kershaw warned, “intelligence is not the same as evidence” and more charges are expected soon.
Last week, a Sydney man became the first person to be charged by the federal task force, dubbed Special Operation Avalite, over alleged death threats he made against a Jewish organization.
Albanese said Tuesday’s incident at a daycare in Maroubra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was “as cowardly as it was disgusting” and called it a “hate crime”.
“This is an attack targeting the Jewish community. And it is a crime that concerns us all because it is also an attack on the nation and the society that we have built together,” he wrote on social networks.
Getty ImagesThe Jewish Council of Australia, established last year to combat anti-Semitism, said it “strongly condemns” this and all other similar incidents.
“These actions highlight the urgent need for cooperation, education and community dialogue to combat bias and promote understanding,” he said in a statement.
Most of the recent incidents have taken place in Sydney and involve anti-Semitic graffiti, arson and vandalism against buildings, including synagogues.
New South Wales has established its own state-level taskforce to deal with these incidents and 36 people have been charged so far with anti-Semitic offenses.
A further 70 arrests were made for similar crimes in the neighboring state of Victoria, where a synagogue was burned down last month.
