Aussie spy agency traces funding of synagogue attack to Iran link

Australia's intelligence agency traced the funding of hooded criminals who allegedly set fire to a Melbourne synagogue, linking the anti-Semitic attack to Iran, officials said, even as those charged with the crime were likely unaware Tehran was their puppet master.

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SYDNEY -

A 20-year-old local man, Younes Ali Younes, appeared in the Magistrates Court in Melbourne on Aug. 27, charged with the Dec. 6, 2024 arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue and theft of a car.

He did not enter a plea and also did not seek bail.

His lawyer declined to give any comments.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia's intelligence agencies had shown that the attack and another in Sydney in 2024 were directed by the Iranian government, and expelled Tehran's ambassador. It is the latest Western government to accuse Iran of carrying out hostile covert activities on its soil.

Security services in Britain and Sweden warned in 2024 that Tehran was using criminal proxies to carry out its violent attacks in those countries, with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022.

A dozen other countries have condemned what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services.

Australia's spy chief Mike Burgess said a series of "cut-outs," an intelligence term for intermediaries, were used to conceal Iran's involvement in the attacks, and warned that it may have orchestrated others.