Sydney restaurateur Judith Lewis couldn’t save the mezuzah, a framed parchment inked with Hebrew prayers, that was hanging in her family’s café when arsonists set it alight in the early hours one Sunday in late October.

Australian detectives are investigating whether foreign actors are paying criminals to commit antisemitic attacks in the country

The police said they were investigating whether “overseas actors” were involved in the vandalizing of synagogues and a day care center.

Australian detectives are examining whether foreign entities are funding criminal groups to carry out antisemitic attacks in the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government convened a “national cabinet” with state leaders this week after a childcare centre near a synagogue in east Sydney was firebombed and defaced with an antisemitic slogan.

The crimes have included torching a child care center, burning cars in largely Jewish neighborhoods and smearing red paint and graffiti on synagogues in Sydney, while a synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed in December,