Police investigate whether foreign actors are paying for antisemitic crimes in Australia
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Australian detectives are investigating whether foreign actors are paying criminals to commit antisemitic attacks in the country, police said on Wednesday. Australia Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw was meeting on Wednesday with state police chiefs to discuss an increase in antisemitic crime in Australia since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We believe criminals-for-hire may be behind some incidents,” Kershaw told reporters in the national capital, Canberra. “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,” Kershaw added.
He did not take questions from reporters. Kershaw told federal and state government leaders on Tuesday in a briefing on antisemitism that detectives were investigating 15 serious allegations of antisemitic crime. “We are looking into whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs,” Kershaw said after Tuesday's meeting.
“We are looking at if — or how — they have been paid, for example in cryptocurrency, which can take longer to identify,” he added. Police were also investigating whether young people were involved in antisemitism and if they had been radicalized online and encouraged to commit antisemitic acts, Kershaw said.
