The director general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio), Mike Burgess, has revealed that an Australian citizen working as a senior intelligence officer for Iran "orchestrated" a firebombing in Bondi, while a former Australian resident in Iraq directed the attack on a Melbourne synagogue. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
In a wide-ranging speech on Wednesday night, Burgess detailed the homegrown ties to Australia's "summer of antisemitism," saying that "hatred of Jews is one thing virtually all the violent extremist cohorts have in common." He also warned that intelligence officials must contend with security threats from everywhere and all at once, calling for Australians who want a safer country to be more tolerant and give others a "fair go."
Burgess recalled the December terror attack on Bondi Beach, in which 15 people died in an antisemitic terror attack. "Our degrading security environment is characterised by concurrent, cascading and compounding threats," he said.
The Asio boss revealed that two attacks linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Australia's Jewish community were directed by two individuals living offshore with "strong ties to Australia." One, an Australian citizen based in Iran and a senior agent within a covert unit for the IRGC Quds Force, is credited as the person who "orchestrated" the firebombing of Lewis's Continental Kitchen in Sydney's Bondi. The other, a former Australian resident living in Iraq, was behind the attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne.
"I cannot name the two individuals tonight to protect ongoing investigations and related prosecutions but I want them to understand this: we know who you are, we know what you've done and we know who you work for," Burgess said. "We assessed these individuals were seeking to covertly promote hatred, foster antisemitism and encourage violence against Iran's perceived enemies."
Burgess pointed to other examples where foreign nations were trying to exert influence domestically, including through coerced repatriations. In one example, an individual experienced a 10-year intimidation campaign by a foreign government to return to the country and address unspecified corruption allegations. The individual's family members still living in the foreign country were "detained, interrogated and subjected to travel bans."
At least five regimes are targeting Australians with coerced repatriations, and one is particularly active, Burgess said. Espionage remained a persistent threat, and Asio underscored foreign interest in gaining critical details of the Aukus pact. A foreign spy, disguised as a consultant company employee, gained two reports from an Australian security clearance holder on Australia's relationship with Pacific neighbours before Asio disrupted the operation.
Burgess said the examples outlined had occurred in just one week at Asio, showing the intelligence agency's biggest challenge was a cumulative one. "I don't believe we can prioritise the major threats – you must deal with all of them," Burgess said.
Burgess ended his speech on an unorthodox note, saying he "firmly" believed that "if more Australians – not just visitors – embraced the ethos of a fair go, mutual respect and tolerance, the temperature of our security environment would be several degrees lower." "The tolerance of intolerance, the growth of grievance, the radicalisation of minors, the embrace of conspiracy … all these things require a whole of community response," he said.