Organised crime a ‘terrifying new front’ in anti-Semitism crisis, says envoy

The nation’s anti-Semitism envoy says the Jewish community was ‘terrified’ to learn organised crime groups had leveraged the hatred of Jews for personal gain.

Australia's special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, in Sydney on Friday. Picture: John Feder

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The nation’s anti-Semitism envoy says the Jewish community was “terrified” to learn organised crime groups had leveraged the hatred of Jews for personal gain, claiming the revelations prove the crisis and issue had become normalised.

Breaking her silence after revelations that fugitive Sayet Erhan Akca allegedly co-ordinated a crime group to unleash a wave of attacks targeting her community, envoy Jillian Segal lamented the new and dangerous front to the country’s anti-Semitism crisis.

“The Jewish community is feeling incredibly anxious and concerned about not only the incidents, but the developing news that, in fact, it’s linked to organised crime,” Ms Segal told The Australian on Friday.

“(The community’s view) is that it’s even more concerning ­because we’re seeing organised crime latching on to something that is going on (rising anti-Semitism) that is making the Jewish community feel intimidated and fearing for their safety.

“It reflects a normalisation of anti-Semitism such that even organised crime is using it to leverage (it). The community is definitely not reassured by (these developments), but in fact more concerned.”

Ms Segal’s intervention comes after NSW Police and Australian Federal Police arrested and charged 14 people in relation to the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks, alleging that each had been part of a chain of command to “puppetmaster” Mr Akca, who had allegedly sought to leverage the incidents to lessen charges against him.

The sweep of arrests came after the January discovery of an abandoned caravan in northwest ­Sydney filled with Powergel explosives and a list of Jewish “targets”, but which has since been determined by investigators to be a hoax, allegedly for Akca to use as a bargaining tool.

“Whether or not there was a detonator (in the caravan), whether it was actually going to be a major explosion, is an issue, but it should not be the main issue,” Ms Segal said.

“What we’ve seen is an organised, co-ordinated, series of incidents, which has clearly demonstrated an intention to intimidate, harass and cause fear in the Jewish community.

“Whether those individuals, because they were actually also connected to organised crime, had a secondary motive to divert police resources or to do anything else is a matter for the police and obviously for the judicial system.

“But there had been an intention to intimidate the Jewish community.”

Sydney businessman Sayet Ehan Akca, 35, the alleged mastermind behind some attacks. Picture: Facebook

Investigators believe that although Akca’s alleged primary motive was to use “inside knowledge” of the caravan to use as part of police negotiations the full picture remains muddy, admitting others could have been motivated to cause “chaos” or by a hatred of Jews.

“The terror was very real,” Ms Segal said. “And some of the attacks could have resulted in a loss of life – the burning of cars could have caused houses to catch alight, for example.

“These were still hate-filled incidents designed to cause fear in the Jewish community.

“It was part of a series of events intentionally focused on the Jewish community to cause hate or to exhibit hate, and to cause fear of further violence, and that is very real anti-Semitism.”

Ms Segal reserved praise and thanks for two actors: NSW Premier Chris Minns and the police ­investigators.

“I wanted to say thank you to (Mr Minns) for his very clear-eyed discussion about (the issue), and his view that it does not diminish the racial hatred we’ve seen … or his resolve in bringing in the new (hate-speech) legislation that his government passed,” she said.

“And to the police, for what has been a relentless investigation, showing such concern to get to the bottom of this.”

Ms Segal said the motivations behind the terror were, to an extent, irrelevant, echoing other Jewish leaders’ call to leaders that tackling anti-Semitism remained “critical” – the caravan being a “hoax” or not.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson addresses the media. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“And these are not all the incidents that have taken place,” she said. “We’ve had the burning of the Adass synagogue, other hate-filled graffiti – there’s been an explosion of anti-Semitism, and it was an important step that the government took in (passing) hate-speech legislation, which disincentives these kinds of actions.”

Ms Segal, whose fledgling tenure has coincided with the gravest threats to Jewish Australians in memory, urged governments and leaders to come together, rather than “politicising” the recent developments or point blame without offering solutions.

“I’d like to see a recognition that the best way to tackle anti-Semitism is education,” she said.

“Not just classroom education per se, but an understanding throughout the entire community as to what anti-Semitism is: an age-old hatred.

“We’ve seen an explosion of it in Australia and we need to make sure that everyone understands what it is, from senior leaders at universities to the police and judiciary.”

Ms Segal said she had been working on finalising a strategic plan for Australia to better combat anti-Semitism, something already adopted in places like the US and Germany, which would be delivered in a matter of weeks.

“It involves making sure that there are other measures in place to dampen down any hatred in the community towards the Jewish community,” she said, adding that a “rebuilding” of social and intercommunity linkages also remained vital.