Australia’s Jews are living in fear

Just when it seemed Australia’s anti-Semitism crisis couldn’t worsen, it has. This week, it was disclosed that a caravan loaded with plastic explosive was found in Sydney’s rural fringe. The explosives are of a type commonly used in mining operations and, along with the explosives, papers were discovered that named a Sydney synagogue – reportedly the Great Synagogue in central Sydney – presumably as an identified target. Police estimated that, if detonated, the caravan’s deadly cargo would have created a 40-metre blast wave: if parked outside the synagogue, the explosion would have destroyed it and surrounding buildings, likely with very heavy human casualties and loss of life.

The owners of the caravan, a man and a woman, have so far not been charged. They are in custody, but in relation to other unrelated alleged offences. One of them had reportedly been charged with an anti-Semitic vandalism offence in December, but they reportedly have no history of extremist ideology.