“That Is Terrorism” announced a headline in The Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday reporting that a trailer loaded with enough explosives to cause a 40-meter blast wave was found in New South Wales, north of Sydney.

The trailer was marked with an antisemitic offensive epithet and with several addresses of targets, including a Sydney shul.

The trailer was found 10 days ago and was only revealed after an investigation into the potential “mass casualty event” was leaked to the media.

According to the report, New South Wales (NSW) police were called by a local resident on January 19 after he discovered the trailer.

The police who arrived at the site found Powergel explosives, which are believed to have been stolen from a mine site, along with a note listing the address of a shul.

“There’s only one way of calling it out and that is terrorism,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said.

“This would strike terror into the community, particularly the Jewish community, and it must be met with the full resources of the government. And I want to assure the people of NSW that’s exactly what’s happening.”

The caravan had been parked on the roadside in a hazardous position between December 7 and January 19, the report said.

The police transferred the investigation to the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which combines state and Commonwealth agencies, including the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Although over 100 officers have been tasked with finding the perpetrators, they have not yet been found.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson confirmed that no arrests have been made. “I can indicate we have no information that there are further explosives in our community in relation to conducting antisemitic attacks anywhere,” Hudson said. “We believe that we have contained, appropriately, this current threat.”

Other Australian media reports said that reports that investigators are also looking into the possibility that the trailer marked with the anti-Jewish message was left there to increase tensions in Australia and fuel the wave of antisemitism there. An Australian source told the Daily Telegraph that “something is not right” in the case.

Australia in general and Sydney in particular has suffered a wave of antisemitic attacks in recent weeks and months. Last week, a daycare near a Jewish school and a shul was set on fire in the middle of the night. The day after the attack, Australian federal police launched an investigation regarding suspicions that the recent antisemitic attacks in the country are funded by “overseas actors.” Later that day, the police arrested a suspect involved in the attempted arson attack of a Sydney shul earlier this month.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)