Iran-linked attacks: Australian Jews “fearful”

Revelations that the Iranian regime was linked to antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney have left Jewish Australians anxious and fearful.

The Adass Israel Synagogue was one of the sites firebombed by criminal proxies in December 2024, badly damaging the building and injuring a worshipper.

Synagogue board member Benjamin Klein said he received a call from a senior official in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office telling him the government was announcing the “dangerous acts of aggression” were directed by Iran – allegations denied by Tehran on Tuesday night.

“It is quite shocking and traumatic to think that a peaceful, loving shule in Melbourne is targeted and attacked by terrorists from overseas,” Mr Klein told AAP.

He said Victorian and federal authorities had been supportive with increased security arrangements at a temporary location where the congregation now gathered.

“We’re a bit more anxious, a bit more stressed and scared, but we don’t change our ways.”

Police arrested a second man over the firebombing earlier in August.

The other site targeted was the Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney, a kosher deli and a mainstay of Bondi in the city’s eastern suburbs, which was firebombed in the early hours of October 20, 2024.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin said the owner of the popular shop, Judith Lewis, was still processing revelations that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps was linked to the attack by recruiting local crime elements.

“The fact that a business is targeted, makes every Jewish Australian fearful that they could be next and that’s what terrorism really does to us,” he said.

“The acts themselves were horrific but now to have confirmation of something that many of us suspected there was a foreign interference involvement in this – it’s terrifying,” he said.

Mr Albanese’s response has been swift, with Canberra expelling the Iranian ambassador.

It is the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.

Iran has denied Australia’s allegations through its Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, who tried to link it to the challenges Australia faced with Israel after announcing it would recognise a Palestinian state.

“It looks like that the action, which is against Iran, diplomacy and the relations between the two nations, is a compensation for the criticism that the Australians had against the Zionist regime,” Mr Baghaei said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X overnight that “Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine”.

He added that he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description last week of Mr Albanese as a “weak politician”.

Australia will list the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation once urgent legislation passes parliament.

The government hadn’t previously listed it under existing terrorism laws because it was a government entity.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Mr Albanese said alongside the federal police commissioner, AISO director-general and senior ministers in Canberra on Tuesday.

While Foreign Minister Penny Wong acknowledged these were unprecedented moves, she said it was the “right time” to take such measures.

“When you have a regime that is behaving in Australia in a way that is inciting violent crime against Australians with the threat of harm, this is clearly a line that has been crossed,” she told the Today show on Wednesday.

“This was so beyond anything that we could accept.”

She also urged any Australians in Iran to leave immediately and warned travellers not to go to the country as the government no longer has an embassy there.

“The Iranian regime is an unpredictable regime, a regime which we have seen is capable of aggression and violence,” Senator Wong told ABC radio.

Jewish community leaders welcomed the federal government’s actions, saying it was important to take strong action against the Iranian regime.

“Israel’s enemies are Australia’s enemies. That much is clear,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“What we learnt from all of this is how sophisticated, how determined the enemies of the Jewish people are, whether it is career criminals or foreign regimes or other operatives.”

The deli arson attack was allegedly committed by Wayne Dean Ogden, 41, who remains behind bars ahead of an October 21 court appearance.

Sayed Mohammed Moosawi, 32, was released on bail three weeks ago after pleading not guilty to commissioning the deli arson attack and directing a criminal group. His case is also back in court on the same day.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said more anti-Semitic attacks could be linked.

By: Farid Farid/AAP

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