Australian police have said they foiled a potential antisemitic attack on discovering a trailer packed with explosives in northwest Sydney, alarming the Jewish community following a spate of arson and graffiti incidents.

Australia has been grappling with a spate of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Australian police suspect explosives stashed on Sydney’s outskirts were evidence of a deadly escalation in a campaign of antisemitic arson and graffiti crimes that has been waged in major cities for months,

Sydney restaurateur Judith Lewis couldn’t save the mezuzah, a framed parchment inked with Hebrew prayers, that was hanging in her family’s café when arsonists set it alight in the early hours one Sunday in late October.

Explosives found in a caravan in Dural could have caused a 'mass casualty event', with counter-terrorism police dispatched to investigate if they were intended for an antisemitic attack.

Detectives in Australia are investigating whether foreign actors paying criminals are behind the recent string of antisemitic attacks.

The explosives located in a caravan could have caused a 'potential mass casualty event', authorities have said.