An anonymous figure has claimed responsibility for the torching of several cars earlier this month at an Australian engineering company in Melbourne, while threatening that its workers will be targeted if they continue to make weapons components that are used by Israel.
The figure spoke in a video that has been circulating on social media since its release last week, drawing condemnation from the Australian Jewish community on Monday.
Along with accusing Israel of “genocide,” the figure scorned “colonialist and imperialists” while criticizing the US, the UK, and “ethnic cleansing, and murder of Aboriginal peoples across so-called Australia.”
Police said they were investigating the clip.
In the grainy video, a masked figure dressed in black speaks with an altered voice and claims responsibility for the July 5 attack at the premises of Lovitt Technologies Australia on behalf of “an anonymous cell.”
During the attack, antisemitic graffiti was daubed on cars outside the building and on walls, and at least three vehicles were torched. The incident came hours after an arson attack at a Melbourne synagogue and the mobbing of an Israeli restaurant in the city by pro-Palestinian activists.
“This was not an accident or thoughtless act of vandalism,” the figure said. “This is a serious threat.”
It said Lovitt, which specializes in precision engineering, was targeted because it was the first Australian producer of parts for the F-35 jet, “proudly deployed in service to colonialism and imperialism” by the US, Israel, Australia, and the UK.
The figure accused “every worker” at Lovitt Technologies of complicity in “genocide” in Gaza.
“We will decide your fate, as you have decided the fate of millions,” the figure said. “For the past few months, we have been closely watching you. We have your addresses.”
“All the information we have about you will be distributed to our underground networks,” the figure said. “Stop arming Israel or else.”
“Consider this a warning.”
The figure then encouraged others to also carry out similar attacks.
“If you are watching this, you can do what we have done,” the figure said and provided instructions on how to set a car on fire. “Be mindful of fingerprints and DNA,” it added.
“Death to Israel, death to Australia, death to America,” the figure said. “Every colony will burn.”
The Guardian newspaper reported that the group has also shared footage of the vandalism at Lovitt, apparently taken with a GoPro camera, and that it matches CCTV videos of the incident released by police last week.
Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory told the Herald Sun the video was a “clear incitement to domestic terrorism.”
“This is a deeply troubling escalation,” he said. “Australian businesses and their employees are being threatened. Authorities must act urgently — before someone is seriously harmed or killed.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin told NewsWire, “Today it is a business they oppose and tomorrow it will be individuals, politicians, journalists, or religious institutions they deem impure.”
“The matter is now being investigated by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman told NewsWire. “Investigators are aware of a video which has been circulating where a group has claimed responsibility for the incident.”
The same Friday night as the attack on Lovitt, a man set fire to the front door of the busy East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue while around 20 people were inside for a Shabbat meal. They managed to escape without injury.
In another incident that night, about 20 protesters swarmed an Israeli-owned restaurant while chanting “Death to the IDF.” The protesters flipped over tables and smashed a window, according to local media.
Police later charged Angelo Loras, 34, from the Sydney suburb of Toongabbie, for allegedly setting the synagogue ablaze.
The force said that it has not found an organized link between the three incidents.
Australia’s Jewish community, numbering around 120,000, has been among the hardest hit by the global surge in antisemitism since October 7, 2023. The country experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, more than quadruple the number from the year before Hamas’s October 7 assault that sparked the Gaza war, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
On Sunday, an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian rally was held in Melbourne’s central business district.
Participants chanted “death to the IDF” after being urged to do so by the rally leader, identified only as Hajar, the Herald Sun reported.
“This one’s a bit controversial apparently: ‘Death, death to the IDF,'” Hajar said, with most of the crowd reportedly joining her.
According to the report, one poster displayed at the rally sought to explain the history of the swastika symbol before it was incorporated by the Nazis, as a way of justifying its use. The poster was covered with the symbol, which is banned in the state of Victoria.
Police later said they were working to determine if the poster amounted to a criminal offense.
“The organizers of these protests say, again and again, that they are protesting peacefully, but their repeated rabble rousing, death chants and hateful messages shows what they are really about,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion told the Herald.
“The chant ‘death to the IDF’ is a blatant incitement to violence, and as such is already prohibited under Australian law,” Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said.
“The Jewish community in Melbourne has been deeply distressed by the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests, where the constant presence of hostile chants and calls for violence has left many feeling tormented, fearful,” he added.