Albanese says ‘fake anti-Semitism terror’ induced ‘real fear’ as police probe kingpin plot

The PM says anti-Semitic attacks co-ordinated by an offshore kingpin created ‘real fear’ for Jewish Australians as the NSW government ‘made no apologies’ for its new hate-speech laws.

Cars are set alight and properties vandalised in Woollahra, a prominent Jewish suburb in Sysney, in what police say was co-ordinated by an organised-crime group.

An elaborate caravan bomb hoax and spate of anti-Semitic attacks co-ordinated by a mysterious overseas mastermind succeeded in creating “real fear” for Australia’s Jewish community, Anthony Albanese says, revealing he knew for “some time” that it was a criminal con job.

The Prime Minister’s comments came as the NSW Labor government made “no apologies” for introducing stronger hate-speech laws, despite criticism from crossbenchers that the legislation was “rushed through” on the false assumption anti-Semitic terror attacks were brewing in the community.

NSW Police this week arrested and charged 14 people in relation to the string of recent anti-Semitic attacks – including a plot where a caravan was found laced with explosives and containing a list of Jewish “targets” – which they believe were orchestrated by “foreign actors” for personal gain.

Senior state officers on Wednesday confirmed they had been blindsided by Australian Federal Police in January when Commissioner Reece Kershaw pointed to the possible involvement of foreign actors, but disputed there had since been a relationship breakdown between the two forces.

Mr Albanese said that while the caravan was a “hoax”, the fear it created in the Jewish community was “very real”.

“The fact that it was a hoax does not mean that it didn’t create fear for the Jewish community – it did,” he said. “While it was a hoax and the motivation was about criminal activities and not related to those issues, the fear that it created was very real.”

Investigators believe that the primary motivation behind the scheme was so crime figures could leverage information about the attacks to use as a bartering tool to lessen charges or sentences against them.

Police believe there may be secondary motivations across the alleged criminal group, including to cause “chaos”, divert police resources, or – in some cases – underlying anti-Semitism.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Gaye Gerard

The ringleader and group sought to benefit from fraying social cohesion after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, after realising the attention anti-Semitic attacks received could be used to their advantage.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson on Wednesday reiterated that the attacks before to the caravan was found – including vandalism and arson in Sydney’s eastern suburbs – could have been to induce fear and strengthen the ringleader’s “bargaining chip”.

He said state investigators formally ruled out the caravan as a terror threat on February 21, a month after its discovery.

NSW Premier Chris Minns was told on January 20 that police were treating it as a “terrorist event” but that it could be “part of a criminal conspiracy”, Mr Hudson said. He also said it would be “unfair” to accuse federal investigators of withholding information from state police, but confirmed that the AFP’s suspicions that “foreign actors” were involved had blindsided their NSW counterparts.

“Their internal policies prevented them from telling us where that (caravan threat) information was coming from,” he said.

“However, (the AFP) deputy and assistant commissioner indicated to us that information that I wanted to know they didn’t know because of their internal policies.”

Police Minister Yasmin Catley fronts Budget Estimates. Picture: Gaye Gerard

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson on Monday. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“What I chose to do – despite the criticism of the opposition – was to act in our interests, back our security agencies and the AFP, and allow them to do their job,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton rejected Mr Albanese’s suggestion that they chose not to seek out security briefings or politicised the caravan’s discovery, saying the opposition had followed the lead of Mr Minns’ initial description of the incident as a possible “mass-casualty event”.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley refused to disclose when the government was told the terror theory had been discredited.

Derriwong Rd in Dural, near where the caravan was found in January. Picture: Damian Shaw

NSW Greens justice spokeswoman Sue Higginson accused the state government of “jumping the gun” with kneejerk hate speech laws, which were passed when the caravan was still publicly believed to be terror-related.