Operation Sovereign Borders-style agency needed to combat anti-Semitic terrorism
The Albanese government must now assume Australia’s Jewish community is under active terrorist attack and set up an Operation Sovereign Borders-type multi-agency campaign to combat the deadly rise of anti-Semitism.
The Albanese government must now assume Australia’s Jewish community is under active terrorist attack and set up an Operation Sovereign Borders-type multi-agency campaign to combat the deadly rise of anti-Semitism in the country.
The call, from the former head of the Department of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, comes as the government faces growing pressure to do more to combat the threat to the nation’s Jewish community, with Anthony Albanese under fire over claims he only learnt of the Dural caravan terror plot when it hit the media.
The caravan – filled with explosives and anti-Semitic messages – was discovered on the northwest outskirts of Sydney, the most serious threat yet in an escalating series of attacks on Jewish homes, schools and childcare centres.
On Friday, thousands of Jewish children arrived for their first day back in the classroom amid tight security as the NSW government pledged to restore high visibility policing at key times outside schools such as drop off and pick up, a return to the strict measures introduced after the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Mr Pezzullo said the federal government’s decision in 2022 to reduce the size of the Department of Home Affairs by siphoning parts of it to other departments had undermined the ability of the government to co-ordinate a unified response to the rise of anti-Semitism.
“Had Home Affairs been kept intact in 2022, a more co-ordinated approach could have been put in place and pursued in the wake of the October 7 attacks,” Mr Pezzullo told The Weekend Australian. “Independent ASIO and AFP investigations could have been better meshed at the commonwealth level with (Department of Home Affairs) social cohesion programs and community liaison functions.”
On Friday, Anthony Albanese refused to answer questions about when he was briefed on the caravan plot, following reports that both he and the National Security Committee of cabinet only learnt about the discovery on Wednesday, just before it was made public.
“I have no intention of undermining an ongoing investigation by going into the details,” the Prime Minister said in response to repeated questions. “I do not talk about operational matters for an ongoing investigation.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns was briefed on the plot on January 20, the day after caravan packed with explosives was discovered in Dural.
Peter Dutton, who has been attacking Mr Albanese over his “weak” response to growing anti-Semitic violence, said he could not think of a precedent for a prime minister being kept out of the loop on such a significant issue.
“For the prime minister not to know about a terrorist attack that was in the planning is of national significance and a complete abrogation of his responsibility,” the Opposition Leader said.
The government hit back at warnings by senior police, revealed in The Australian on Friday, that the strain of escalating anti-Semitic violence and other crimes including domestic violence would leave officers with “one hand tied behind their backs” unless severe under-resourcing is fixed.
The Police Federation of Australia is preparing a national election campaign targeting marginal seats to push key issues including the retention of police and soaring attrition rates.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said additional resources had been provided to police forces around the country, including the NSW Police Force. “But of course we have provided resources to the AFP with Operation Avalite (set up to investigate anti-Semitism) and our police forces are working very closely with each other around the country to foil these attacks. And so we are doing everything in our power to combat this.”
Police from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team are continuing to hunt for the masterminds believed to have orchestrated some of the anti-Semitic attacks and the caravan plot, following the arrests of three people alleged to be “on the periphery” of the Dural discovery.
They are focusing on possible links between the trio and bikie or organised crime groups.
The Weekend Australian understands that one avenue being explored is the connections of 39-year-old Simon Nichols who was named on search warrants, along with Tammie Farrugia, 34, and her partner Scott Marshall, 36. None of the three has been charged over the caravan plot but all remain in custody on unrelated charges.
Police believe none of three on their own had the expertise, finances or clear political motive to have acquired the Powergel explosives, paid between $5000 and $10,000 for the caravan and plotted a terrorist attack on Jewish targets in Sydney.
But detectives are tracking back through the associations of all three.
Mr Nichols was arrested on January 2 over the discovery last year of eight stolen cars fitted with cloned number plates, with officers allegedly finding jerry cans with fuel inside some, unrelated to the caravan incident.
He is alleged to have warehoused the stolen vehicles, which were seized by police in August. At the time police alleged the vehicles were “kill cars”, being rebirthed for use by organised crime gangs in shootings and other serious offences.
“These are not the standard high performance kill cars we normally seize,” said Organised Crime Squad commander Peter Faux at the time.
“These cars are meant to hide in our community and allow criminals to avoid the consequences of their evil intent.”
Detective Superintendent Faux said he expected more arrests to follow.
Ms Farrugia and Mr Marshall allegedly spruiked on social media they were “looking for a caravan” on December 6, the day before the Viscount Grand Tourer caravan was first parked by the side of the road in Dural.
Three days later, Ms Farrugia put out another call on social media, this time for plastic Jerry cans. The following day, on December 11, an alleged firebombing attack took place in Woollahra in which anti-Israel graffiti was spray-painted on properties and a car was set alight. Ms Farrugia was arrested over that attack on January 21, charged with offences including participating in a criminal group.
Mr Pezzullo said the growing incidents of ever more serious threats against the Jewish community warranted more aggressive action than was being taken.
“The use of terror tactics against Jewish people and places needs to be dealt with operationally as if it were domestic terrorism, irrespective of any fine distinctions that might be argued by those who doubt whether the legal thresholds for terrorist acts have been met in the recent spate of fires and graffiti attacks,” Mr Pezzullo said.
“Investigators, prosecutors, and ultimately the courts will decide whether those thresholds have been met. That proper and due process should not prevent the taking of more aggressive action without delay, acting on the presumption that a part of the Australian community is under active terrorist attack.”
He said now that anti-Jewish hatred and violence had reached “concerningly dangerous levels”, the situation calls for “an Operation Sovereign Borders-type multi-agency campaign, with a single line of command and accountability, reporting to the Minister for Home Affairs”.
“Of course, as we know from other areas of policy and operational response, this could be done successfully without infringing the independence of ASIO, the AFP, the DPP, or any other independent agency,” he said.
“Machinery of government matters, especially when it comes to dealing with crises, (and) this is a crisis. The Minister for Home Affairs is responsible for social cohesion and public safety at the commonwealth level (and) needs to be given all of the tools that were previously available, before the machinery changes of 2022.”
Mr Pezzullo said Australia would never be the same again if it were to suffer “an Oklahoma City-style attack on a Jewish Australian place”.
A truck bomb attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 killed 168 people, including 19 children, and remains the worst act of homegrown terrorism in US history.
The caravan discovered by police in Dural contained enough explosives for an estimated blast zone of 40m, enough to potentially cause a mass casualty event.
“Hatred of Jews is the oldest hatred on the planet. It is a unique hatred, and it needs to be treated as such,” Mr Pezzullo said.
“No other people have been subjected to the same level of evil, and murderous violence as the Jewish people. We must never forget.”
On Friday, The Great Synagogue in Sydney expressed its shock and distress at learning it was one of the intended targets of the terror plot, saying that to have become a target for violent terror even two years ago would have been unthinkable, but since the Hamas attack of October 7 “this behaviour has sadly become our reality in Australia”.
“While we thank NSW Police and other agencies for their efforts and ongoing support to protect The Great Synagogue and our community, we have to ask; how is it acceptable in Australia that synagogues and Jews are now deemed regular targets for violence, vandalism and hatred?”
The Great Synagogue remains open for worship and to guests, and police have advised there is no ongoing threat to the synagogue “from this particular event”.
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