Australian authorities say they’ve foiled a potential “mass casualty” attack with the discovery of a trailer packed with explosives in northwest Sydney, and “an indication” it was to be used against targets in the Jewish community following a spate of antisemitic incidents.

Three more incidents of antisemitic graffiti were found across Sydney on Thursday morning, leading Australian political leaders to warn of an escalation in hatred and decry as terrorism explosives found earlier in a trailer on the city’s outskirts.

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.

An Australian state has committed more police to investigate a spate of antisemitic crimes after a childcare center was torched near a Sydney synagogue.

A Jewish school and two other properties in Sydney were sprayed with antisemitic slurs, authorities said on Thursday (January 30), a day after police said they had foiled an attack involving explosives in a suburb of the nation's biggest city.

Australia was once viewed as a multicultural melting pot but a string of attacks against its Jewish community has cast doubt over this perception.