Police feared antisemitism could escalate to terrorism
AFP says fears of antisemitic terrorism grew after October 7 as threats against Jews intensified.
The Australian Federal Police feared antisemitism could escalate into terrorist acts following the October 7 Hamas attacks.
AFP assistant commissioner Stephen Nutt told the Royal Commission that October 7 fundamentally altered Australia’s national security environment, forcing a recalibration of policing priorities. Antisemitism has since become a strategic priority for the AFP.
“There was absolutely a concern that the antisemitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts,” Nutt said. “We saw protest activity, which is a legitimate part of a functioning democracy, turn into violent protests … and we also saw an increasingly open display of prohibited hate symbols, specifically … the symbols of proscribed terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Hezbollah.”
NSW Police assistant commissioner Leanne McCusker told the commission that no specific threat assessment was prepared for the Chanukah by the Sea event at Bondi on December 14, 2025, despite the national terrorism threat level having been raised to “probable” by ASIO in August 2024, and hate crimes against Jewish victims in NSW reaching 841 incidents that year. McCusker agreed preparing such an assessment would have been a “good idea”.
McCusker also confirmed that intelligence briefings on threats to the Jewish community, issued fortnightly between October and December 2023, were discontinued after December of that year, more than two years before the Bondi attack.
Nutt told the commission that Operation Avalite, established in December 2024 following the arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue, had received 166 reports of alleged offences, with 15 serious allegations actively pursued. A national antisemitism coordination group involving deputy commissioners from each jurisdiction was also created; a structure Nutt confirmed had no equivalent for other forms of hate crime.
On the January 2025 “Dural caravan” incident, Nutt said investigators ultimately assessed it as a fabricated plot, but acknowledged its psychological impact. “A caravan with explosives with a threatening note is enough to have a very concerning impact on the Jewish community’s feeling of safety,” he said.
Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion: Hearing Block 2, day one
Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion: Hearing Block 2, day two
Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion: Hearing Block 2, day 3