Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rebuffed calls to release more detail on claims overseas actors are paying locals to carry out antisemitic attacks.

Federal police are investigating the allegations and whether young people have been radicalised online and are being encouraged to commit the acts.

Cars have been set alight, a synagogue burnt down, antisemitic slurs painted on buildings and cars, and on Tuesday, a childcare centre close to a place of worship was set ablaze after hateful graffiti was sprayed onto its walls.

The Coalition has called for Australians to be given more information, but Albanese has urged caution as investigations continue.

“I’m reluctant to say anything that compromises those investigations, but it is important that people understand where some of these attacks are coming from,” he said in Sydney on Wednesday.

“It would appear, as the AFP commissioner said yesterday, that some of these are being perpetrated by people who don’t have a particular issue, aren’t motivated by an ideology, but are paid actors.”

This was the scene of a hate crime.

An act of vile, antisemitic violence.

Every act of antisemitism is an affront to who we are as Australians.

This was an attack targeted at the Jewish community. And it is a crime that concerns us all because it is also an attack on the… pic.twitter.com/TtKIkKQ7pG

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) January 20, 2025

AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw said on Tuesday the force was probing 15 serious attacks since December and was considering whether overseas actors or individuals paid local criminals to carry out some of the crimes.

“We are looking at if – or how – they have been paid, for example in cryptocurrency, which can take longer to identify,” he said.

“We are looking into whether any young people are involved in carrying out some of these crimes, and if they have been radicalised online and encouraged to commit anti-Semitic acts.

“Regardless, it all points to the same motivation: demonising and intimidating the Jewish community.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the public was entitled to further detail on the “gravely serious” claim, and how the government was responding.

“Now to put claims like that out, that this out there, would make it the most serious domestic security crisis in peacetime in Australia’s history, and will cause incredible alarm within the Jewish community,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“A lot more information is required about this claim, and a lot more comfort, and needs to be given about what is being done in response to it, you cannot put information out this partially, as has been done so far.”

The comments came after NSW Police charged a 33-year-old man over his alleged role in spray-painting swastikas on and an attempted arson attack upon a synagogue in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown on January 11.

Three men have already been charged by strike force police after vehicles and buildings were damaged in the eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra. Four more have been charged after two suspicious fires in Bondi, and another has been charged after a second vandalism incident in Woollahra.

Albanese visited the Only About Children centre in Sydney’s east on Tuesday. He called the vandalism and fire-bombing a “despicable and horrifying crime” before bowing to pressure and convening a national cabinet meeting to address attacks aimed at the Jewish community.

Leaders have agreed to establish a national database to track anti-Semitic incidents and reaffirmed their commitment to stamping out the hate crimes.

Vice-chancellors from the University of Sydney, the Australian National University, the University of Queensland and Western Sydney University, alongside members of the student and educators’ unions will front a federal inquiry on anti-Semitism at universities when it resumes on Wednesday.

“We support freedom of speech but draw the line at hate speech,” Western Sydney University’s submission said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has repeatedly criticised the government for its handling of antisemitism. He wants those who commit terrorism offences or display hate symbols to be sentenced to mandatory jail time, despite concerns from legal experts.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has noted that Australia has international human rights obligations to promote equality and freedom from discrimination and protect freedom of expression.

Its submission to the federal inquiry pointed to recommendations from a United Nations committee that calls for governments to consider the content, form and objective of speech – alongside the political climate it was disseminated – in determining whether conduct should be declared an offence punishable by law.

-AAP