Antisemitic attacks, foreign-directed arson and the policing response since October 2023

Australia's Jewish community numbers about 120,000 people. For most of the past three years it has lived with a level of threat that had no precedent here. That threat came from several directions at once: street abuse and graffiti, organised criminals for hire, a foreign government, and in the end a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State.

This page sets out what happened, what federal and state governments did and when, and what the reviews have found so far. It separates what governments caused from what they inherited or could not control. It also tests the most common claims made on both sides.

How much did antisemitic incidents rise after 7 October 2023?

The best long-run count comes from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the community's peak body. It has used the same method for decades. It counts reported incidents such as assaults, vandalism, graffiti, threats and abuse. It does not count social media posts, so its totals understate the problem.

In the year to September 2024 the count quadrupled. ECAJ said it was six times the average of the previous ten years. Physical assaults rose from 11 to 65.

The next year, to September 2025, the total fell by about a fifth, to 1,654. Physical assaults fell 63%. But vandalism rose 14%. Verbal abuse was the largest category, at 621 incidents, or 38% of the total. ECAJ said the level was still about three times the pre-October 2023 average. It also noted a shift toward graffiti that called directly for violence against Jews.

Two cautions apply. These are counts reported to and checked by a community body, not police crime statistics. And no full-year count yet covers the period after the Bondi attack. Anyone who quotes a single "rise" figure should say which year they mean.

What were the most serious attacks?

The incidents grew more serious over time. Early on, the focus was on protests. On 9 October 2023, two days after the Hamas attack on Israel, a rally at the Sydney Opera House drew national attention for its chants. NSW Police later said it found no evidence that the phrase "gas the Jews" was used, but it called other chants offensive. Getting that detail right matters, because it is still quoted wrongly in both directions.

From late 2024 the attacks turned to fire. On 20 October 2024, Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher restaurant in Bondi, was set alight, causing about $1 million in damage. On 6 December 2024, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, was firebombed while people were inside. One worshipper suffered minor burns. Sacred texts were destroyed and the damage ran past $20 million.

In Sydney's east, a run of arson and graffiti followed over the summer. On 21 January 2025 a childcare centre in Maroubra was burned and daubed with antisemitic slogans, causing about $3.4 million in damage. In July 2025 the East Melbourne Synagogue was targeted with flammable liquid during a Shabbat dinner.

Then came Bondi. On 14 December 2025, the first night of Hanukkah, two gunmen opened fire on a Chabad celebration of about 1,000 people at Archer Park. Fifteen people were killed, among them a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a rabbi. About 40 were injured. Police shot dead the father, Sajid Akram. His son, Naveed Akram, survived. The Prime Minister said the attack was "deliberately targeted at the Jewish community" and motivated by Islamic State ideology.

The warnings were on the record before the worst of it. The sharpest responses came after the funerals.

Did Iran really direct attacks in Australia?

On 26 August 2025 the Prime Minister announced that ASIO had found "credible intelligence" linking Iran to both the Lewis Continental Kitchen fire and the Adass Israel Synagogue arson. ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess explained how it worked: "This was directed by the IRGC through a series of overseas cut-out facilitators to coordinators that found their way to tasking Australians." The IRGC is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In other words, a foreign state used layers of middlemen to hire local criminals, who may not have known who was paying. The Prime Minister called the attacks "extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil."

The response was strong by Australian standards. Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three officials were told to leave. It was the first time Australia had expelled an ambassador since the Second World War. Australia also suspended its embassy in Tehran. Parliament then passed the Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Act 2025, and the IRGC was listed on 27 November 2025. In June 2026 ASIO said an Australian citizen living in Iran allegedly organised the Sydney attack, and a former Australian resident in Iraq allegedly organised the Melbourne one.

Two points need care. ASIO's finding covers two named attacks. Burgess said Iran was likely behind others, but no further attacks have been publicly attributed. And the attribution took about eight and a half months after the synagogue fire. Some of that time is how intelligence work goes. But for those months the community did not know a foreign government was behind the fire.

What was the Dural caravan, and why does it matter?

In January 2025 police found a caravan at Dural, in Sydney's north-west. It held mining explosives and a list of Jewish targets. It was reported nationally as a foiled mass-casualty plot, and it fed the political pressure for tougher laws.

On 10 March 2025 the AFP and NSW Police said it was a "fake terror plot". They said organised criminals bought the caravan, loaded it, planted it and then tipped off police. The aim was to use their "knowledge" of it as a bargaining chip to reduce their own legal trouble. Police said they had suspected a set-up almost from the start, because the caravan was easy to find and had no detonator.

This matters for testing claims. The explosives were real, and the scheme still traded on fear of Jewish Australians being killed. But the caravan was not a planned terrorist attack. ECAJ's December 2025 report still listed it among serious incidents, so readers will meet both versions. The police account is the one on the record.

What did governments do, and when?

The record falls into two halves: before Bondi and after it.

Before Bondi. In July 2024 the government appointed Jillian Segal as the first Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. In December 2024 NSW Police set up Strike Force Pearl. By 11 March 2025 it had arrested 29 people on 143 charges, and its numbers were later increased. In early February 2025 federal Parliament passed the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Act 2025. It set mandatory minimum jail terms: 12 months for displaying Nazi or terror symbols or giving the Nazi salute, and six years for terrorism offences. Labor accepted the mandatory minimums after weeks of Coalition pressure.

In July 2025 the envoy delivered her plan, with 13 recommendations and 49 actions. It covered schools and universities, funding for institutions that fail to tackle antisemitism, hate speech laws and visa screening. It was released publicly, but the government did not formally adopt it then. That came on 18 December 2025, five months later and four days after Bondi.

After Bondi. National Cabinet agreed to tighten gun laws on 15 December 2025. On 18 December the government adopted the envoy's plan and appointed David Gonski to lead a 12-month education taskforce. On 19 December it announced a national gun buyback, with costs shared 50:50 with the states.

The Prime Minister at first resisted a royal commission. Families of victims, Jewish leaders and others pressed for one. He announced it on 8 January 2026, with former High Court judge Virginia Bell as commissioner. A separate review of ASIO and the AFP by Dennis Richardson was folded into it.

Parliament was recalled and passed the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism package on 20 January 2026. The vote was 116 to 7 in the House and 38 to 22 in the Senate. The new law lets the government list "prohibited hate groups" and creates offences for belonging to them. It creates an aggravated offence for religious and other leaders who advocate violence. It defines hate crime in Commonwealth law and widens visa refusal and cancellation powers. A companion law set up the gun buyback.

One piece did not survive. The government had proposed a federal offence of promoting or inciting racial hatred. On 17 January 2026 the Prime Minister dropped it, saying "the racial vilification laws do not have the support of the Senate". The Coalition and the Greens had both opposed it, for different reasons, mostly free speech. Jewish community groups said they were dismayed.

What did the states do?

New South Wales. The Minns government recalled Parliament and passed the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act on 24 December 2025. It capped most gun licences at four firearms (ten for farmers), shortened licence renewals from five years to two, and banned the public display of terror group symbols. It also let police restrict public protests for up to 90 days after a terrorism declaration.

That protest power did not last. On 17 April 2026 the NSW Court of Appeal unanimously struck it down. It found the scheme was a "blunt tool" that burdened the freedom of political communication protected by the Constitution, because it applied to every protest regardless of risk. The state was ordered to pay costs, and charges laid under it are now in doubt.

Victoria. Victoria passed the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Act 2025, which replaces the old Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 with a broader regime. The arsons in Victoria were investigated by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which includes Victoria Police, the AFP and ASIO.

Has anyone been convicted?

Arrests were made in every major case. Verdicts are another matter.

• Adass Israel Synagogue. The Joint Counter Terrorism Team charged a man with stealing a car allegedly used in the attack (16 July 2025). It charged three alleged arsonists on 30 July 2025, 21 August 2025 and 19 June 2026 with arson and conduct endangering life. Police said some people may have "actively lied" to investigators. None was charged with terrorism.
• Lewis Continental Kitchen. Nine people have been arrested, including an alleged organiser who police say was paid about $12,000. None was charged with a terrorism offence.
• Bondi. Naveed Akram was charged on 17 December 2025 with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder and 40 of attempted murder, among other offences. Nineteen more charges were added in June 2026. The case is at the committal stage, and he is held in a super-maximum security prison.

We found no reported verdict in any of these three cases as of early October 2026. That is normal for cases this large, and every accused person is presumed innocent. But it means the public has not yet seen a court test the evidence. The Iran-linked arsons were also charged as ordinary crimes, not terrorism, which is worth noting when politicians call them terror attacks.

What has the royal commission found so far?

The interim report, released on 30 April 2026, ran to 159 pages with 14 recommendations. Five were kept confidential. The public ones include a full-time federal counter-terrorism coordinator, consistent national gun laws with a buyback, regular national security exercises, and more NSW Police security at high-risk Jewish events.

Two findings stand out. First, the Community Security Group, the Jewish community's own security body, warned NSW Police about a week before the attack that a terrorist attack was "likely". The police response was to send a car crew or two for a visible presence: three junior officers and a supervisor. Second, Commissioner Bell wrote that "no material or advice from any agency identified any gap in the existing legal and regulatory frameworks" that stopped agencies preventing or responding to the attack.

That second finding cuts against a common argument. The rush of laws after Bondi was presented as closing gaps. On the evidence so far, the failure was in judgement, resourcing and coordination, not in the law books. ASIO had looked at Naveed Akram's associations from October 2019, but not as an immediate threat. His father held a valid licence for six guns.

Public hearings ended on 26 August 2026 after 62 days and more than 340 witnesses, with more than 20,000 submissions. Police and intelligence officers were mostly heard in private. The final report is now due on 18 December 2026. Critics, including Opposition Leader Angus Taylor and Liberal MP Julian Leeser, said the timeline was too tight. A royal commission expert said the interim report came before the main public hearings began.

What did governments get right?

Three things stand out. The Iran response was firm and backed by a public, specific intelligence finding rather than a vague accusation. Police separated the Dural hoax from real terrorism and said so publicly, even though the truth was awkward for politicians who had cited it. And the gun reforms answer a concrete finding: a man with six legal firearms carried out the worst attack.

The verdict: testing the claims

Claim: antisemitism in Australia has surged since October 2023. Supported. ECAJ counts went from 495 to 2,062 in a year. They fell to 1,654 the following year, which is still about three times the decade average.

Claim: Iran was behind attacks on Jewish Australians. Supported for two attacks. ASIO attributed the Lewis Continental Kitchen and Adass Israel Synagogue fires to the IRGC. Claims that Iran was behind the wider wave are not established on the public record.

Claim: the Dural caravan was a foiled terrorist attack. Not supported. The AFP and NSW Police called it a fabricated plot by organised criminals.

Claim: the federal government was too slow. Partly supported. It acted on Iran and passed hate crime laws in early 2025. But it left the envoy's plan without a formal response for five months, resisted a royal commission, and passed its main package only after 15 people were dead.

Claim: tougher laws would have prevented Bondi. Not supported. The royal commission found no agency identified a legal gap that stopped it acting. The interim findings point to policing and threat judgements, including how NSW Police responded to a specific warning.

Claim: the offenders have been brought to justice. Partly supported. Suspects have been charged in every major case, but no verdict has been reported in the three headline cases, and none of the Iran-linked arsonists faces a terrorism charge.

Some of this is outside any government's control. A war overseas, a foreign intelligence service and a lone radicalised family are hard to stop. But when warnings were on the record, the response is what governments own. On that measure the record is mixed. Foreign policy and police work were strong, while political decisions were often slow and reactive. The final report on 18 December will be the real test of who should have done what.

For how the states are handling other kinds of crime, read our pages on youth crime and bail in Victoria and regional youth crime in NSW. The Minns and Allan scorecards cover the wider records of the two state governments most involved.