Australia’s spy chief suggested Tuesday that foreign intelligence — possibly from Israel — may have helped authorities uncover Iranian involvement in two antisemitic attacks on Jewish sites, hours after the government announced it would expel Tehran’s ambassador.
In a press conference following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s declaration that Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi would be forced to leave, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General Mike Burgess was asked by Sky News Australia whether Israel’s Mossad played a role in alerting Canberra.
Arson attack on Melbourne synagogue
“We work with foreign partners,” Burgess replied. While he declined to elaborate, Sky News anchors later remarked, “Well, who else would it be? Certainly Israel, maybe the U.S. There aren’t many others. No doubt they tipped off our intelligence service.”
Earlier in the day, Albanese said ASIO had concluded that the Iranian government was behind a December attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and another on Lewis Continental Kitchen, a Jewish-owned restaurant in Sydney. He condemned the incidents as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression” by a foreign state on Australian soil.
The diplomatic clash escalated after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded with unusually sharp language, calling Albanese “a weak politician” — echoing words used days earlier by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had accused the Australian leader of betraying Israel and abandoning Australian Jews.
Australia’s decision comes amid broader strains with Israel following Canberra’s cancellation of visas for MK Simcha Rothman and former justice minister Ayelet Shaked. Israel retaliated by revoking visas for Australian diplomats posted to the Palestinian Authority. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Netanyahu’s government was “isolating Israel and undermining international efforts for peace and a two-state solution.”
Araghchi rejected Australia’s accusations, arguing Iran has one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities and dozens of synagogues under state protection. “Accusing Iran of attacking such sites in Australia while we do our utmost to protect them in our own country makes zero sense,” he wrote on X. He added that Canberra was punishing Tehran “for the Australian people’s support for Palestine” and claimed it was trying to “appease a regime led by War Criminals. Doing so will only embolden Netanyahu and his ilk.”
Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the attacks linked to Iran were in fact carried out by local “crooks and gangsters” — who had previously botched two attempts before those cited by Albanese.
According to documents from the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the operations were directed by Sydney criminal Saeed Mousavi, who used the alias “James Bond” on the encrypted messaging app Signal to coordinate the attacks.
In one incident on September 30, the court revealed, Mousavi messaged his associate Wayne Ogden: “I’ve got something good planned.” About two weeks later, Ogden was spotted driving a car with stolen plates alongside another accomplice, John Amwi. The two parked at 2 a.m. in Sydney’s Bondi neighborhood, wearing gloves and ski masks, and approached the Carly Lewis Brewery. Police described the site as having no connection to religion or the Jewish community.
Amwi was allegedly carrying a hammer, but the pair panicked after being seen by a passerby and fled. Mousavi later fumed in a message: “You failed the test. You can’t do a simple thing. A 16-year-old could have done it.” Later, the three men met with two others, and Mousavi claimed he had been paid $12,000 to organize an arson attack in the same neighborhood.
According to the documents, the two men were instructed to target Lewis Continental Kitchen, a Jewish-owned restaurant on Carlyle Street, but mistakenly went back to the Carly Lewis Brewery instead. They poured flammable liquid on the door and set it alight, but the fire was quickly extinguished by sprinklers.
Enraged, Mousavi texted one accomplice: “You screwed everything up. If you couldn’t do it in the first place, why go there? It didn’t even burn 2%, I’ll die.” One of the partners later messaged the other failed arsonist: “I’m starting to think he sent us to the wrong place LOL.”
A few days later, Ogden set fire to the restaurant’s kitchen as planned, causing more than $1 million in damage. The two men involved in the failed brewery arson were arrested and jailed. Ogden and Amwi now face multiple charges, while Mousavi was released on $2 million bail and is due back in court.
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The damage at Lewis Continental Kitchen restaurant in Sydney, October 2024
(Photo: from X)
The charges against Sydney’s self-styled “James Bond” do not mention Iran in any way, according to the report, and the Islamic Republic is not referenced in the court documents. However, law enforcement sources told the newspaper that “Iran has been working with outlaw motorcycle gangs for years.”
According to the documents, Mousavi migrated to Australia from Afghanistan with his family in 2005 and has a history of violence dating back to his youth, including involvement in drug, kidnapping and weapons cases.