Israel’s Mossad has blamed a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp leader for an alleged arson attack in Sydney, but NSW Police said there was no evidence Iran was involved in any attacks in the state.
The intelligence agency said on Sunday that IRGC-Quds Force commander Sardar Ammar was at the head of a network that conducted secret operations against Jewish and Israeli targets in Australia, Germany, and Greece in 2024 and 2025.
Mossad said in a statement that Ammar’s 11,000-strong network carried out vandalism and firebombings “aiming to intimidate communities and create conditions that could lead to more serious attacks”, The Times of Israel reported.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in August that Australian spy agency ASIO had “credible evidence” Iran was behind alleged arson attacks on the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, and kosher restaurant Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Bondi, Sydney, in 2024, and Sky News Australia host Sharri Markson reported at the time that confidential sources “confirmed” Mossad assisted with the ASIO investigation.
But in a statement to parliament last week police said there was no evidence of the involvement of Iran or any other foreign agents in the 13 most serious attacks on the Jewish community in NSW since October 7, 2023, confirming they were all criminal con jobs.
Premier Chris Minns relied on claims of 700 anti-Semitic attacks to pass controversial “hate speech” and protest laws in February, but that number was revised down to 367, and then downgraded further when police admitted dozens were duplicates or did not meet the criteria for anti-Semitism, with just 14 considered “serious attacks” on property.
Independent MP Mark Latham then asked how many of the 14 were perpetrated by Iran or agents of the Iranian regime, other foreign agents, or people associated with and paid by organised crime figures.
Police responded by saying “the NSW Police Force has nil holdings in relation to foreign agents perpetrating these incidents”, stated that 13 were organised crime linked, and that the 14th involved two Muslim nurses at a Sydney hospital making threats against Jewish patients.
The 14 attacks, all investigated by Strike Force Pearl, include the alleged firebombing of the Bondi restaurant in October last year, and in January detectives arrested a 41-year-old man and charged him with starting the fire.
A former outlaw motorcycle gang chapter president, Sayed Moosawi, 32, was also arrested and charged with masterminding the attack, and has pleaded not guilty.
Moosawi’s defence lawyer told Guardian Australia in August that his client denied any involvement with the IRGC or the Iranian government, denied his client had “contacted, communicated with or been directed by them in any way”, and said his client had not been contacted by police or ASIO over the allegations.
“Police have been investigating this matter for nine months, and the brief of evidence that has been provided by them so far does not contain any evidence of any link between my client and the Iranian government or [the] Islamic revolutionary guard,” Zemarai Khatiz said.
Header image: Left, Sardar Ammar (Mossad). Right, the restaurant after the fire (9News).
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