20-minute Extremism Update

This brief talk examined the recent surge in antisemitic attacks in Australia. In two recent incidents, an Israeli restaurant was firebombed and a synagogue was targeted with antisemitic vandalism - part of a growing trend of ideologically motivated violence.

Dr. David Gawel, who retired from the NSW Police Force as a Detective Chief Inspector after 35 years of service, was joined by Ms. Caroline O’Hare, a former NSW Police officer of 42 years. Dr. Gawel spent 32 years engaged in the investigation of major crime, with the last 20 years of his career specialising in counter-terrorism. He currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Customer Aggression Response Team (CART), Security Intelligence Section, Services Australia. Since retiring in 2023, Ms. O’Hare founded Victims of Terrorism Australia (VOTA), a nonprofit organisation dedicated to supporting Australian victims and survivors of terrorism. Both Dr. Gawel and Ms. O’Hare received the Australian Police Medal (APM) in the 2016 Governor General’s honours list for ‘Distinguished Service’.

Moderated by Lara Burns, Head of Terrorism Research at the Program on Extremism, this conversation explored the facts of the attacks, patterns of rising extremism, and how law enforcement and civil society are responding.