The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have suggested the possibility of foreign actors being behind a recent wave of antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney, a claim met with both alarm and demands for further clarification from the government and opposition.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson has challenged the federal police and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to explain the force’s suggestion that foreign actors might be behind a spate of antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney. Paterson said it was incumbent on the government to explain any intelligence that could substantiate such serious claims of foreign interference, questioning the police’s decision to float the prospect without providing evidence.
\“It is not good enough for the federal government to disclose this with such limited information which will only further alarm a besieged community,” Paterson told this masthead. “The prime minister must urgently clarify what he knows, when he first learned about it and why he has withheld from the public the extraordinarily serious claim by the AFP of foreign involvement in these terrorist attacks. “If a foreign government is responsible this would amount to acts of state-sponsored terror and one of the most serious national security crises we have faced in peacetime.“The Australian people deserve to know more. Has the national security committee of cabinet been briefed? Have our intelligence agencies been brought in to help? Has the prime minister discussed this with his Five Eyes counterparts?” \AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw’s explosive statement was issued late on Tuesday afternoon as national cabinet was meeting to discuss several attacks on Jewish sites or areas, injecting a new element into a charged debate over the political and law enforcement response to rising antisemitism. The statement from Kershaw said police were “looking into” the possibility that overseas actors or individuals had paid local criminals to perpetrate the attacks. Kershaw stressed in the statement that “intelligence is not the same as evidence”, and did not cite a possible motivation of the overseas actor or whether they could be linked to a hostile state such as Iran or China. The AFP has been under pressure to explain the lack of arrests overLaw enforcement sources unable to speak publicly said police suspected a number of the perpetrators were paid and used anonymous messaging services to receive instructions. This information had led to a suspicion that overseas actors may be involved. However, the statement suggests police do not yet have solid evidence to substantiate the claim. \The police statement went on: “We are looking into whether any young people are involved in carrying out some of these crimes, and if they have been radicalised online and encouraged to commit antisemitic acts.” “Regardless, it all points to the same motivation: demonising and intimidating the Jewish community.“ Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke rebuked Patterson for demanding more information on the investigation, describing his opposition counterpart’s demand as naive. “The Australian Federal Police will have very deliberate reasons for what they put out in the public and when they do it, and they operate independently as they should. “My only interest in what they put out is that they make decisions that are designed to advance investigations. I’m not able to add to anything that that’s been put out there, but I certainly would not join in what I thought was a surprising and potentially naive call from Mr Patterson just randomly saying, oh, we need more information on this. They should put out the information that they think helps with the investigation. That’s how the Australian Federal Police should operate.” The prospect of foreign involvement would challenge the argument, made most forcefully by Paterson and the Coalition, tha
ANTISEMITISM AUSTRALIA FOREIGN INTERFERENCE POLICE INVESTIGATION NATIONAL SECURITY
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