Australian police foil attack on Jewish community center involving explosives

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A police officer runs across Martin Place near Lindt cafe, where hostages are being held, in central Sydney December 15, 2014. REUTERS/David Gray

By Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned antisemitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives, in an escalation of threats against the Jewish community that authorities called terrorism. 

The caravan was discovered on Jan. 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 kms (22 miles) northwest of the centre of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson told a news conference.

"That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack," he told a news conference. 

The threat had been fully contained and there was no further threat to the Jewish community, he added.

Hudson said arrests had been made but did not disclose how many or what the charges were. 

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said over 100 officers were investigating the incident, under a joint counter-terrorism operation involving state and federal police. 

"This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There is only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism," he said.

Australia has suffered a spate of antisemitic incidents in recent months, with attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose centre-left Labor Party faces reelection in polls that must be held by May, has been criticised by the opposition over the rise in antisemitic incidents in the country.

The government says it has taken extra steps to protect the Jewish community, including more funding and a federal taskforce to investigate antisemitic incidents. 

 (Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Michael Perry and Saad Sayeed)