A leading criminal psychologist has pointed out a flaw in the disturbing theory that a foreign power is behind the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks in .
Sydney and Melbourne have been at the centre of the attacks with synagogues firebombed, cars defaced and slurs and swastikas graffitied on buildings.
The latest alleged incident was the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives at Dural, in north-west Sydney, along with a list of Jewish targets.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed last week that detectives were probing whether foreign actors had been paying local criminals to commit the acts.
Dr Tim Watson-Munro told Daily Mail it would not be the ‘first time there has been foreign interference in other nation’s activities and affairs’.
‘It has been well publicised in terms the influence of the Russians and Chinese. We don’t know enough yet to say definitively one way or the other,’ he said.
However he said a well-organised campaign with international masterminds would be unlikely to be using such crude and basic forms of vandalism.
‘If there was foreign influence it is pretty unsophisticated. You would expect foreign influence to be more sophisticated than this.’
The caravan containing explosives, anti-Semitic messages and a list of Jewish targets was discovered almost two weeks ago, but that was only made public on Wednesday.
‘We should all be horrified and terrified by this development,’ Dr Watson-Munro said.
‘It represents an escalation of violent thinking among some members of the community ever since October 7, 2023 (when Hamas operatives invaded Israel).
‘The discovery of this amount of explosives anywhere would cause alarm whatever its purpose may be.
‘Who knows what the purpose and intent the owners of the explosives may have had but it’s a huge coincidence if it is not to do with hate crime.’
Following the caravan discovery, NSW Police arrested a couple who were described as being on the ‘periphery’ of what appeared to be a suspected anti-Semitic terror plot.
It is understood those arrests were of Tammie Farrugia and her partner Scott Marshall.
Farrugia was charged last week over an alleged anti-Semitic attack at Woollahra in December.
Marshall was charged late last year with weapons and drug offences to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The couple have not been charged in relation to the caravan.
‘It would suggest hate crime was on their minds and clearly it reflects strong anti-Semitic sentiments,’ Dr Watson-Munro.
‘It’s a matter of joining the dots which isn’t too hard to do in this case it would seem.’
One police source told the Daily Telegraph that the discovery of a target list inside a caravan which was left in a place that attracted the attention of authorities suggested it could be a ‘false flag’ operation or an attempt to manipulate police by framing others.
However Dr Watson-Munro said it could also be explained by sheer incompetence, or as a way to ‘create fear in the community by telegraphing intention without the actual intent to carry it out’.
‘I have assessed people who have been extraordinarily stupid in terms of leaving an evidence trail,’ he said.
‘If you look at the case in Christchurch the offender (Mosque gunman Brenton Tarrant) filmed his activity in real time so he was getting his message across.
‘I guess the alternative possibility is that it is possibly a set up.’
‘We need more evidence and more analysis and a comprehensive statement from the police once they are across it all,’ he said.
‘Whether it is meant to generate terror without inflicting terror, the net result is the same – it creates apprehension in the community.’
Last week as part of the Motive & Method podcast he does with renowned criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett, Dr Watson-Munro interviewed Deakin University Associate Professor Matteo Vergani about rising hate crime in .
‘The good professor said it is real, it is escalating,’ Dr Watson-Munro said.
‘In the context of what of what has been going on around you can understand why people would be very fearful of this development (the caravan discovery).’
As to the prospect of how real the threat was of the explosives actually being used in a terror attack, Dr Watson-Munro said it must be treated as such.
‘Talk can escalate, who knows what may have happened if the caravan and its contents not been discovered,’ he said.
‘I see it all the time in drug cases where (people) shoot their mouths off about how great it is going to be; “we will bring in tons of this and that”.
‘Whether the actual importation did occur, whether they were just talking out of their a***s doesn’t matter to the court. It is the intent that is the important thing.
‘As for this case who knows? But what you have got here is not pretend explosives, they are real explosives
‘You have something that is weaponised, that has the potential to kill a lot of people, so we are not purely dealing with fantasy land or speculation.’
* November 21: Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel graffiti was sprayed and a car was set on fire in an eastern Sydney suburb with a large Jewish population. Three men have been charged
* December 6: The Adass Israel Synagogue in south Melbourne was burned down in an attack Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled an act of terrorism
* December 11: Graffiti including ‘Kill Israiel’ (sic) was sprayed on buildings and footpaths and the perpetrators’ car set on fire in a Sydney suburb with a large Jewish community. A 34-year-old woman has been charged
* January 6: Anti-Semitic slogans were painted on a car and sprayed on nearby buildings and footpaths in Sydney’s east
* January 10: Swastikas were painted on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in an act the NSW premier labelled ‘disgusting and disgraceful’
* January 11: A synagogue in Sydney’s inner west was spray-painted with red swastikas and vandals attempted to set it on fire
* January 16: Police charged a man who allegedly used social media to make death threats against members of the Jewish community
* January 17: A house that formerly belonged to Executive Council of n Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin was targeted in an arson and graffiti attack
*January 21: A childcare centre near the Maroubra Synagogue in Sydney’s east was set on fire with an anti-Semitic slogan sprayed on a wall
* January 29: Police announce a caravan filled with explosives and a note containing addresses of Jewish people and institutions was found 10 days earlier in northwest Sydney.
Source: n Associated Press