A potential mass casualty terrorist attack against Australian Jewish targets was averted by the discovery of a caravan filled with explosives in a Sydney suburb, Australian law enforcement and political leadership announced on Wednesday.
The caravan was discovered on January 19 on a rural, residential Dural property, about 25 kilometers northwest of the New South Wales state capital, with indication, according to NSW Police Force Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson, that multiple Jewish community sites or persons were being targeted. NSW Premier Chris Minns and Hudson assured during a Wednesday joint press briefing that the threat had been fully contained and there was no further threat to the Jewish community.
"That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack," Hudson said.
Hudson didn't detail the exact targets but said that relevant Jewish community actors would be made aware of the plot against them. The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said in a Wednesday statement that the caravan allegedly contained a note outlining potential Jewish communal targets.
BREAKING: NSW Police have intercepted a caravan filled with explosives and the addresses of Jewish installations and other antisemitic material in Sydney. @ChrisMinnsMP and Deputy Commissioner David Hudson addressed the media. pic.twitter.com/ntRbAFpDvw
— Daniel (@VoteLewko) January 29, 2025
During the ten days of investigation authorities had made arrests on the "periphery" of the case, but Hudson did not disclose how many or the nature of the charges. Law enforcement is still looking for those that stored the explosives in the vehicle and orchestrated the foiled attacks.
Hudson said that investigators believed that the planned attack was connected to a spate of antisemitic arson and vandalism incident that had afflicted the greater Sydney area in recent weeks. The senior officer said that he would not speculate about the relation of the attack to a previous Australian Federal Police investigation into potential foreign funding of antisemitic attacks in Australia.
"We believe that there is some connection between some of the targets we've charged under Strike Force Pearl and this investigation," Hudson said, referring to the task force established in December to address anti-Jewish motivated crimes in the Sydney area.
The substance stored in the caravan were Powergel putty explosives that Hudson believed were stolen from a mining site. Law enforcement didn't believe that there were further explosives in play in this plot.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese assured in a Wednesday statement that the "full might" of Australian law enforcement would be brought to bear in a major investigation of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team.
"Hate and extremism have no place in Australian society," said Albanese.
A counter-terrorism team of 100 officers had been mobilized for the case, according to Hudson. The NSW Police said in a Wednesday statement that it was working with the AFP, NSW Crime Commission, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, as well as Victoria and Queensland state police forces.
Minns acknowledged the increasing distress of the state's Jewish community amid the escalation of antisemitic attacks, promising that "Anyone attempting terrorism, violence, hatred in our community will be met with the full force of the law."
Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto said that “this is undoubtedly the most severe threat to the Jewish community in Australia in living memory. The plot, if executed, could have resulted in the worst terrorist attack in Australia’s history."
Cassuto said that the Jewish community had been warning since the October 7 Massacre about incitement, violent rhetoric, and weak leadership would allow extremism and terrorism to flourish. The NSW Jewish Board said that the community had already been facing an ongoing campaign of domestic terrorism in recent weeks.
The Australian Jewish Association on Twitter accused the Albanese government of allowing the situation to deteriorate to such an extent, and questioned the decision to conceal information about the incident for over a week.
'Epidemic of antisemitism'
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar called on the Australian government to address an "epidemic of antisemitism," citing last Monday's Maroubra childcare center arson and the December 6 firebombing of the Melbourne Adass Israel Synagogue.
"We expect the Australian government to do more to stop this disease!" Sa'ar said on X.
The attempted antisemitic terror attack at a synagogue in Sydney is intolerable. This joins a long list of antisemitic attacks in Australia, including setting fire to a childcare center in Sydney, firebombing a synagogue in Melbourne, and many other antisemitic attacks. The…
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) January 29, 2025
Israeli ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon noted that the news of the plot came just days after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorated an event that caused Jews to flee to Australia to escape a similar hatred. Maimon said on social media that he had promised the NSW Jewish Board Israel's full support for the Sydney Jewish community.