Israel piles on criticism of Australia over antisemitism while answers to key questions elude authorities

The Israeli and Albanese governments are again at loggerheads publicly over Australia’s escalating antisemitism, amid speculation about who could be paying “criminals for hire” to make attacks.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said on Wednesday: “the AFP’s investigative lines of inquiry are looking at whether some individuals have been paid to carry out some antisemitic acts in Australia.

"We believe criminals for hire may be behind some incidents. So part of our inquiries include: who is paying those criminals, where those people are – whether they are in Australia or offshore – and what their motivation is. Crime is globalised, criminals are using anonymising technology and we know 70% of criminals who target Australia are offshore.”

On Tuesday, Kershaw disclosed the AFP was looking into whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals to commit antisemitic attacks. The police were also looking at whether young people had been radicalised online and encouraged into antisemitic activity, he said.

But so far the Australian authorities appear to have little idea about the intricacies of the local wave of antisemitism.

Agencies are saying they have multiple lines of investigation and are not ruling out specifics motives or actors. This suggests they do not have evidence of offshore extremist groups or governments directing attacks or the involvement of domestic extremist organisations.

Kershaw is anxious to reassure the Australian public the police are doing everything possible to get arrests, and explaining that the situation is a complex part of that.

“It is important we share this information with the public so they understand how seriously the AFP is taking these investigations and to explain why there will be lengthy investigations,” he said on Wednesday.

In Israel’s latest blunt criticism of Australia, the Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel accused the Albanese government of fuelling the violence.

“Obviously the attitude of the current Australian government towards Israel is inflaming a lot of these emotions and giving […] some acceptance when you do not fight it,” she told the ABC.

Haskel, who also criticised Australia earlier this week, said the Jewish community needed action through deterrence, investigation and prosecution. “Words are not enough.”

“What are they waiting for? For someone to die? For someone to be murdered?”

While saying she would not be surprised if foreign funds were being used to pay people to make attacks, Haskel said “I don’t think all of them can be attributed just to that”.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke rejected Haskel’s criticism. Referring to measures the government had brought in, he said, “with respect to those comments that this government is somehow waiting is simply not right”.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson agreed with Haskel’s criticism of the government, pointing to the length of time it took for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to hold a national cabinet on antisemitism, which he did this week.

Paterson called for more information on the investigation of whether foreign-based actors might be involved in the attacks.

“This either means, if it is true […] that a transnational terrorist organisation is sponsoring attacks in Australia or potentially that a foreign government is engaging in state-sponsored terror targeting the Jewish community.”

But Albanese refused to be drawn into giving more information, saying “I am not going to compromise the investigations”.

The government announced that Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (who is Jewish) will lead Australia’s delegation to next week’s commemoration in Poland marking 80 years since the last people were freed from Auschwitz.