The Australian Government on Monday raised the country’s terrorist threat alert level from “possible” to “probable”, citing concerns about growing radicalization resulting from violence against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.
Its the first time that the threat level is raised to the midpoint of the five-grade National Terrorism Threat Advisory System from November 2022. The level had been “probable” the previous eight years.
But the prime minister Anthony Albanese He added that while government officials believe that although the current climate makes terrorism a greater danger, They didn’t know of any specific threats.
“I want to reassure Australians: probable no significa inevitableand does not mean that there is information about an imminent threat or danger,” said Albanese. “The conflict (in Gaza) has fueled grievances, promoted protests, undermined social cohesion and heightened intolerance,” he said at the same conference press.
Information services attentive to radicalization for the Palestinian cause
He assured that the government was acting on the advice of the Australian Security Intelligence Organizationthe country’s main national spy agency, known as ASIO in its English acronym.
“The advice we have received is that More Australians are adopting a more diverse range of extreme ideologies and it is our responsibility to be alert,” Albanese said.
“We have seen a global rise in violence and extremism with political motivations. Many democracies are working to address this, including our friends in the United States and the United Kingdom. There are many things that drive this global trend towards violence. Governments around the world are concerned about the radicalization of young people, the Online radicalization and the rise of new mixed ideologies“.
Threats “more difficult to predict and identify”
In 2024 a knife attack in a shopping center left a fatal victim, a security guard from the mall, Pakistani refugee Faraz Tahir. Several customers were injured.
Australian authorities last declared a terrorist act last April, when A 16-year-old stabbed the Syrian-Aramaic bishop of Sydney, MarMari Emanuelwhile a religious event was broadcast live.
The director general of ASIO, Mike BurgessI affirm that More and more Australians are radicalizing more quickly.
“More Australians embrace a more diverse range of extreme ideologies and are willing to use violence to advance their cause,” Burgess said. The director general of ASIO, Mike Burgess
“The Politically motivated violence is now added to espionage and foreign interference as our main security concerns. These factors make ASIO’s work difficult. “Threats are increasingly difficult to predict and identify,” he added.
