Police catch caravan laden with explosives outside synagogue in Australia

Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned antisemitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives, in an escalation of threats against the Jewish community that authorities called terrorism.

The caravan was discovered on Jan. 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of the center of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson told a news conference.

“That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack,” he told a news conference.

The threat had been fully contained and there was no further threat to the Jewish community, he added.

Hudson said arrests had been made but did not disclose how many or what the charges were.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said over 100 officers were investigating the incident, under a joint counter-terrorism operation involving state and federal police.

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“This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There is only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism,” he said.

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Australia has suffered a spate of antisemitic incidents in recent months, with attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose center-left Labor Party faces reelection in polls that must be held by May, has been criticized by the opposition over the rise in antisemitic incidents in the country.

The government says it has taken extra steps to protect the Jewish community, including more funding and a federal taskforce to investigate antisemitic incidents.