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While it is rare for Australian authorities to investigate far-left groups for alleged terror offences, Asio warned recently of an increased threat it said was posed by those motivated by the Gaza conflict. “While nationalist and racist violent extremists make up the significant majority of our investigations into ideologically motivated extremism, events in the Middle East triggered a troubling increase in anarchist and revolutionary extremism, which is also straining cohesion,” Asio director general Mike Burgess said last November . “Since October 2023, we’ve seen more provocative protests and a notable uptick in intentionally disruptive and damaging tactics by anti-Israel activists, including multiple acts of arson, vandalism and violent protest against defence companies accused of supplying weapon components. “These groups – for want of a better word – are not as centrally controlled, uniformly motivated or as disciplined as the [far-right] National Socialist Network, but they contain individuals who are increasingly willing to embrace or threaten violence to achieve their goals.”
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