A suspect commits vandalism outside the Victorian Trades Hall on March 6. Photo: Facebook screenshot.

Law enforcement in Australia has launched investigations into multiple recent antisemitic incidents, including a car attack on Hasidic men on Saturday and the vandalism earlier this month of a statue honoring an Australian Jewish feminist.

The Victoria branch of the Community Security Group (CSG), an organization focused on protecting local Jews, released a statement on Saturday alerting the community of an incident in Melbourne “on Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea, where a vehicle swerved towards community members while occupants shouted antisemitic remarks.”

The CSG reported that “Victoria Police patrols were active in the area and responded to the scene rapidly. There are no reports of physical injuries. CSG is liaising closely with police and continuing to monitor the situation.”

Ripponlea has a significant Haredi population with members of the Adass Israel community comprising 15.2 percent of the population. The neighborhood has seen other recent antisemitic incidents, including the bombing of the group’s synagogue in December 2024.

The suspects — four women — allegedly drove a black Hyundai stolen on Wednesday from a home in the Caulfield suburb. Victoria police confirmed they had opened an investigation and received reports of other incidents involving the antisemitic occupants driving erratically and throwing eggs at people while yelling abuse.

“Those responsible are brazen, bold, and appear to act with impunity,” Naomi Levin, the CEO of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV), told The Australian.

On Friday, Victoria Police announced the arrests of seven women alleged to have vandalized the statue of Zelda D’Aprano — a Jewish Australian feminist — outside the Victorian Trades Hall on March 6 at approximately 11:00 am.

In a statement, law enforcement described the women as part of an activist group and listed their ages as ranging between 34 and 71. The police stated that security footage showed that the vandals pulled out umbrellas to conceal their identities as they sprayed black and red paint on the statue. They also hung a “difficult woman” apron.

D’Aprano worked as an advocate for women’s rights from the 1950s through the 1980s and co-founded ​​the Women’s Action Committee in 1970. She was known to have chained herself to a government building in 1969 to advocate equal pay for women. Her statue was unveiled in 2023.

The activists face charges of “criminal damage, behaving in a riotous manner in a public place, marking graffiti on a residence without consent, recklessly damaging part of a registered place without a permit, and refusing to leave scheduled public place after a warning.” An eighth suspect remains at large.

So far, the only named suspect is Jemima Demanuele, 34, who appeared in a Melbourne court on Friday and was reportedly on bail for another protesting offense.

Victoria Police officer Tiffany Lamesta pushed back on releasing Demanuele, saying that “the accused has been given bail for the last incident but is showing no respect for court orders” and warning that “police believe the accused will continue to offend if she’s granted bail.”

Demanuele is currently on paid leave from her position at St Vincent’s Hospital as staff conduct a Fair Work investigation.

Magistrate Michelle Hodgson granted Demanuele bail and instructed her that “there is no issue with protest, but it must be lawful, it must not endanger the safety and welfare of other persons and it must not cause property damage.”

Police have not yet stated a motive for the vandalism. Photographs from the scene show multiple members of the group wearing black and white keffiyehs, the symbol of anti-Israel militancy popularized by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Antisemitism surged in Australia following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks across southern Israel. On Feb. 24, Australia announced the creation of a Royal Commission led by retired judge Virginia Bell to investigate antisemitism in the country following the murder of 15 Jews at Bondi Beach in December.

Bell said that the commission needs to “investigate the security arrangements for that event, and to report on whether our intelligence and law enforcement agencies performed to maximum effectiveness.”

Australia’s intelligence authorities revealed last year that the Islamic regime in Iran had directed antisemitic acts in the country using cryptocurrency to compensate criminals, prompting the expulsion of Iran’s Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other officials.

On Friday, the CSG and JCCV released an annual report on antisemitism in Australia’s Victoria state, documenting 564 incidents, the highest number ever recorded.

“Behind each of these reports is a Jewish person,” Levin said. “A child in school uniform abused on a school excursion, a man in a kippah verbally abused on public transport, a worshipper arriving at synagogue to find hateful words painted on its walls, a business owner wiping racist symbols off their window before opening for the day.”

A private security member stands next to a police van outside Bank of America’s Paris offices, after French anti-terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation into attempted destruction by fire or other dangerous means in Paris, France, March 30, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

French authorities are investigating a suspected link to Iran after foiling a bomb attack outside a Bank of America building in Paris over the weekend, in one of the latest terrorist plots to heighten fears of further Iran-linked attacks across Europe amid war in the Middle East.

On Monday, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed investigators are looking into a possible connection to Iran, citing similarities between the foiled attack and a string of recent attempted terrorist plots across Europe claimed by a pro‑Iran group.

“Authorities are drawing a direct link to Iran, since the modus operandi mirrors attacks recently carried out in the Netherlands and Belgium,” Nuñez told the French radio station RTL, referring to a synagogue set ablaze in Rotterdam and another damaged in an explosion in Liège earlier this month.

Known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates to the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, the group has also taken responsibility for a shocking attack in London last week, torching four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization.

Although no government has formally acknowledged or verified the existence of the group or its alleged operations, the repeated claims have raised concerns about a potentially coordinated network targeting Jewish communities across Europe amid heightened tensions and fears of Iranian retaliation and possible sleeper-cell activity linked to the war in the Middle East.

In this latest incident, local police in Paris spotted two suspects on Saturday near the Bank of America building in the city’s 8th arrondissement — a central district near major government offices and embassies — just moments after they had planted a homemade explosive device, with one of the men preparing to ignite it with a lighter.

Shortly after authorities thwarted the attempted attack, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “attempted damage by fire or dangerous means in connection with a terrorist enterprise.”

Since then, five suspects — including three minors and two adults — have been arrested on alleged terrorism-related offenses as investigators work to determine whether the plot was coordinated from abroad and linked to a wider network.

According to French media reports, the suspects were recruited via Snapchat and offered 600 euros to carry out the operation — a tactic officials say reflects a modus operandi increasingly used by Iranian intelligence services to operate indirectly and discreetly without formally implicating Tehran.

“Typically, Iran’s intelligence services operate in this way: They use proxies, a series of subcontractors, often common criminals, to carry out highly targeted actions aimed at US interests, the interests of the Jewish community, or Iranian opposition figures,” Nuñez said.

As the US–Israeli war with Iran continues to escalate, Nuñez also said authorities have dramatically ramped up security around key figures and sensitive sites, including providing personal protection to some Iranian opposition members.