Australia says Iran directed antisemitic attacks, expels ambassador

Australia's Security Intelligence Organization is pointing the finger at Iran saying its government directed attacks in Sydney and Melbourne last year, which Iran denies.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response on Tuesday.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization concluded the Iranian government had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company, in Sydney in October last year and on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, Albanese said.

Iran’s government denied the allegations.

There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.

Australian authorities have previously said they suspect that foreign actors are paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks in the country.

Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.

Sayed Mohammed Moosawi, a 32-year-old Sydney-based former chapter president of the Nomads biker gang, has been charged with directing the fire bombings of the Sydney café as well as the nearby Curly Lewis Brewery. The brewery was apparently confused for the café and mistakenly targeted three days earlier for an antisemitic attack.

Giovanni Laulu, a 21-year-old man from Melbourne, was charged last month with being one of three masked arsonists who caused extensive damage to the synagogue in December.