The “Antisemitic” Terror Plot Was Fabricated, Yet Resulting Hate Crime Laws Remain

The deputy commissioners of both the AFP and the NSW police announced on Monday that a series of so-called antisemitic crimes that took place on Gadigal land in Greater Sydney over December and January, were part of an elaborate hoax that was organised by criminal higherups, both here and offshore, who paid local gig criminals to create the spectacle of a crimewave based on fake incidents.

And while those who’d doubted the legitimacy of the “antisemitic” crimes might have been momentarily satisfied with this revelation, the relief wore off quickly when they realised that we’re likely stuck with the swag of draconian hate crime laws that both federal and NSW Labor passed in response to the elaborate fraud.

The so-called antisemitic crimewave had been staged amidst a political climate that involved 12 months of Albanese government spin regarding the Israel defending itself line, as the Netanyahu government had rather been genociding the Palestinians of Gaza, and Sky News even found it an opportune time to produce Never Again, a documentary on an apparent local spike in antisemitism.

So, the domestic and overseas criminal minds coordinating the fake crimewave were well aware that the setting had been primed for the staging of a terrorism scare campaign based around “antisemitic” incidents, and the advantage of this was that criminals were then able to cut more advantageous sentencing deals with authorities via tip-offs to prevent future such incidents.

But while it’s now come to light that the pollies were far more willing to be hoodwinked by the staged crimewave than law enforcement turned out to be, not even the crooks could have guessed that so caught up in the fervour surrounding the “criminal con job” would Labor leaders become, that they’d embark upon one of the most robust criminal lawmaking ventures in years.

“Rammed and bullied” law reform

At the height of the antisemitic crimewave in Sydney, the ongoing barrage of condemnation coming from the NSW premier against the “animals” and “bastards” committing these Jewish hate crimes felt to many like the entire constituency was being scolded, especially any pro-Palestinian protesters.

But it turns out NSW wasn’t deserving of this condemnation, and neither did it deserve the three bill package of antisemitic-combatting hate crime and antiprotest offences it’s now stuck with because a government that knew by time of passing that a caravan filled with explosives and an antisemitic note that was causing fear was likely a fraud, yet went ahead and passed the laws anyway.

Besides the discovery of the caravan filled with explosives that was flagged a likely ruse on 30 January, most of the other staged incidents involved graffiti and arson attacks upon synagogues and other Jewish-owned properties and vehicles.

Passed on 20 February, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Racial and Religious Hatred) Bill 2025 has seen the enactment of a new aggravated offence of publicly displaying a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue, and an aggravated offence of graffitiing a place of worship

The Crimes Amendment (Places of Worship) Bill 2025 was passed on 21 February, long after the dubious nature of the caravan incident had been publicly aired. And this bill created the offence of protesting near a place of worship, without a clear definition of what “near” means, and it has also provided NSW police with the ability to move on protesters demonstrating near places of worship.

NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson told Sydney Criminal Lawyers last month that the Crimes Amendment (Inciting Racial Hatred) Bill 2025 was a surprise late addition to the draconian lawmaking bonanza. The bill created the offence of publicly inciting racial hatred by public act, which Higginson explained has an exemption when those inciting hate are supported by a religious text.

These laws that have curbed the right to protest and heightened penalties over stupid acts of graffiti will now serve to punish all based upon the authorities being duped into believing the public was harbouring extreme prejudice towards the Jewish community, when this was hardly the case. These laws were too passed despite questions about the legitimacy of the hate crimes having been aired.

Authoritarian creep

The Albanese government’s Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2025 was passed on 5 February, which was at the peak of the furore around the spate of antisemitic crimes in greater Sydney, and while this legislation had been introduced in September, the last-minute addition of a mandatory sentencing regime was a direct result of the fear around the antisemitic crimewave.

The expansion of the federal hate crime regime had been produced, according to the attorney general, to curb “the rise of antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric”, as well as shield the LGBTIQA+ community, but the government-introduced mandatory sentencing reforms were due to the actual crimewave that has since been revealed a complete ruse and had already been suggested so then.

Deputy commissioner Hudson told reporters on 30 January that most of the antisemitic vandalism attacks might have been the coordinated work of an oversea actor paying locals to commit, while none of the then ten charged in relation were motivated by ideology. At this time, there was also focus on the still unsolved December torching of the Israel Addas Synagogue of Melbourne.

The Albanese government has introduced a mandatory minimum sentence of 6 years imprisonment to be imposed upon individuals convicted of any Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) division 101 terrorism offence or division 102 terrorist organisation crime.

The only exception to this rule relates to two offences that involve associating with terror organisations under section 102.8 of the Code, which now requires an individual found guilty to spend a mandatory minimum of 12 months inside, while the financing terrorism offence under division 103 of the Code now carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 years in gaol.

The new hate crime offence of advocating force or violence through causing damage to property also carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 12 months inside, and the crimes of publicly displaying prohibited Nazi or terrorist organisation symbols or the giving of the Nazi salute now all require that people have a year of their liberty denied.

The Law Council of Australia warned that mandatory sentencing refuses to take into account the personal circumstances of an offender, and therefore, the laws disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, while the federal Labor Party National Platform 2023 specifically rules out enacting mandatory sentences, as it recognises they undermine the judiciary and produce unjust outcomes.

A bipartisan affair

“I have known for some time what the AFP thought and what ASIO and our security agencies thought about the events that occurred, including the caravan,” the prime minister told the press on Wednesday.

“What I chose to do – in spite of some of the media commentary and in spite of the criticism of the opposition – was to act in our interests, back our security agencies, back the Australian federal police and allow them to do their job,” the top minister added.

Both Albanese and NSW premier Chris Minns have suggested they’ve known of the likely staged nature of the caravan filled with explosives, but neither have addressed directly why they chose to act in accordance with the climate of fear surrounding the crimewave that was evidently caused by extreme prejudice towards Jewish people, while NSW police had already flagged the ruse publicly.

But the duopoly has indeed again succeeded in passing rights-eroding law that has the ability to curb the civil liberties of all and likely serve to target only certain parts of the community, in a similar way to the terror lawmaking bonanza of the last two decades, and the inconvenience that the crimes the laws have been based upon having been staged is now being conveniently overlooked.