Mossad IDs mastermind of Australian antisemitic attacks

3 months ago 22

Israeli spy agency Mossad has named the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander it says was behind attacks on Jewish sites in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as other violent incidents in other countries.

In a rare statement, the secretive foreign intelligence service identified Sardar Amar, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, as the official who drove the 2024 arson attacks on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visiting the Adass Israel synagogue in the wake of the alleged attack.

The Albanese government expelled Iran’s ambassador to Australia and listed the IRGC as a terror organisation after domestic spy agency ASIO revealed it believed Iran was behind the attacks.

In a statement uploaded to its website, Mossad said: “Under Amar’s command, a significant mechanism was established to promote attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets both in Israel and abroad.

“This mechanism is directly responsible for the attempted attacks exposed in Greece, Australia, and Germany in the past year alone, and its numerous failures led to the wave of arrests and its exposure.”

The Mossad statement continued: “For years, the Iranian regime has viewed terrorism as a tool to exact a price from Israel by harming innocent people worldwide, without paying military, diplomatic, or economic costs.

“Under this logic, the terrorist bodies operate while maintaining plausible deniability and a separation between the violent activity and Iran ... The Mossad, together with its partners in Israel and around the world, will act decisively to thwart terrorist threats from Iran and its proxies, and to protect the citizens of Israel and Jewish communities around the globe.”

The agency said co-operation with international partners “thwarted dozens of attack tracks, saving many lives”.

Iranian ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi was expelled from the country over the attacks.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office was contacted for comment.

The Mossad reportedly provided information that helped ASIO with its enquiries into the firebombings, but the vast majority of the investigation was conducted by ASIO investigators.

The agency has also linked Ammar to attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel and a synagogue in central Athens in July 2024, while in July 2025, Danish police also arrested a man suspected of gathering information on Jewish properties in Berlin “presumably in preparation for further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets”.

At the time, Albanese described the attacks in Sydney and Melbourne as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil”.

“They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community,” he said. “It is totally unacceptable.”

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said that the revolutionary guard had used “a complex web of proxies” to hide its involvement in antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.

He said he did not believe Iran was responsible for all antisemitic attacks in Australia, but they may be responsible for more than the two that had been announced.

“Iran and its proxies literally and figuratively lit the matches and fanned the flames,” he said.

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