Australia imposed new counter-terrorism financing sanctions against new Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, an online neo-fascist network, and four white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations on Monday, according to the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Penny Wong.
Qassem’s name and several variations of its spelling were listed on the consolidated list. Formerly the deputy secretary-general of the Lebanese terrorist organization, he became its leader after its decades-long head Hassan Nasrallah and his brief successor Hashem Safieddine were killed in Israeli airstrikes in September and October respectively.
“Hezbollah is responsible for the deaths of countless civilians in Lebanon, Israel, and across the Middle East,” Wong said.
In what the foreign minister said was the first time that the Australian government had imposed counter-terrorism sanctions on an entirely online entity, measures were leveled against “Terrorgram” – a loosely connected network of militant neo-Nazi and white supremacist Telegram channels and accounts. It would be a criminal offense to use or deal with the assets attributed to the so-called Terrorgram, with penalties including heavy fines and up to 10 years in prison.
“Terrorgram is an online network that promotes white supremacy and racially-motivated violence,” she said.
Four neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and radical nationalist organizations and their new aliases were re-listed under the sanctions list: The National Socialist Order (NSO), the Russian Imperial Movement, Sonnenkrieg Division, and The Base.
Wong said that this move demonstrated the current government’s “commitment to disrupting the activities of terrorists and violent extremists and preventing them from recruiting and radicalizing people online” under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
'No place for antisemitism'
“There is no place in Australia for antisemitism, hatred, or violence,” Wong said.
The Australian Jewish Association applauded the government on X/Twitter for imposing financial sanctions against neo-Nazi and radical right groups but questioned why the Labor-led government did not sanction Islamist terrorism-supporting groups operating in the country.
“From the hate preachers, to mosques honoring terrorists, to radical Islamist community groups and academics, not only is there a failure to act but some have received generous grants from this government,” AJA asserted on Monday. “By all means clamp down on neo-Nazis, but in order to combat antisemitism, don’t ignore or facilitate the much bigger issue of Islamists.”
NSO, better known as Atomwaffen Division (AWD), according to the Australian Government, was founded in the United States in 2015 by Brandon Russell. While AWD reportedly disbanded in 2020 after the arrest of the movement’s leaders, NSO was founded four months later with much of the same leadership and objectives. Seeking to “build an Aryan, national socialist world by any means necessary” under a strategy of “leaderless resistance,” members have been arrested and convicted of stockpiling explosives allegedly to target Jewish sites.
The United Kingdom-based Sonnenkrieg Division, also listed in the consolidated sanction list as SKD or Sun War Division, has, according to the Australian government, encouraged terrorist activities.
The Base, founded in the US in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro, according to the Australian government, also operates on a decentralized movement model united by a shared ideology and purpose. Two members were arrested in 2020 and charged for an alleged conspiracy to murder two members of the radical anarchist movement Antifa. Another two members were arrested the same year allegedly preparing to conduct violence in Virginia to incite far-Left violence in an attempt to provoke a civil war.