Australia's Albanese defends antisemitism response as Israel urges more action

By Renju Jose and Christine Chen

Israel urged Australia to do more to halt an "epidemic of antisemitism" in the country as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government was doing all it could to combat attacks that he says include domestic terrorism.

A Jewish school and two other properties in Sydney were sprayed with antisemitic slurs, authorities said on Thursday, a day after police said they had foiled an attack involving explosives in a suburb of the nation's biggest city.

The escalating series of attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023 has sparked fear among Australia's nearly 115,000 Jewish people.

"The epidemic of antisemitism is spreading in Australia almost unchecked. We expect the Australian government to do more to stop this disease!," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted on X.

Police in New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, said on Wednesday they had found explosives in a caravan, or trailer, that could have created a blast wave of 40 metres (130 feet). There was some indication the explosives might be used in an antisemitic attack that could have caused mass casualties, police said.

Albanese called that threat, in which an undisclosed number of arrests were made, an act of terrorism and said his Labor government was "doing everything we can".

"The fact that people are being detained, arrested, charged, kept in the clink without bail, indicates that that's the case," he told ABC Radio.

New South Wales police said they had arrested 10 people over the past 10 days for alleged antisemitic attacks.

The explosives were discovered on Jan. 19 in the suburb of Dural, and the owner of the vehicle was in custody on unrelated matters, said New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb.

"This represents undeniably an escalation in race-filled hatred and potential violence," state Premier Chris Minns told a press conference. "We're very concerned about it."

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies called the incident "a matter of the gravest possible consequence".

"We have been saying for weeks now that the Jewish community is the target of an ongoing campaign of domestic terrorism. This is now beyond dispute," it said in a statement.

Albanese, facing a national election due by May, has been criticised by the conservative opposition coalition as weak for failing to prevent hate crimes against Jews.

With antisemitism shaping up as a major topic ahead of the election, Albanese in December set up a federal police task force to investigate antisemitic incidents.