Any link to the war in Gaza will be among the lines of inquiry as authorities conduct a thorough investigation into the terror attack on a Christian bishop and other churchgoers in Western Sydney, the boss of the Australian domestic intelligence agency says.
The act of terror took place on Monday evening (April 15) when Assyrian church leader Mar Mari Emmanuel, and at least three parishioners, were stabbed by a young man during a livestream service at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley.
The alleged attacker, a 16-year-old male, was suspected to be a recent convert to Islam, but police haven’t confirmed the information yet.
The livestream video shows the alleged attacker shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he stabbed the church leader in the upper body at least eight times.
Other videos circulating on social media showed the teenager speaking in Arabic to some people nearby, which can be roughly translated as, “If you didn’t swear at my prophet, I wouldn’t be here.”
Head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Mike Burgess said this would form part of the inquiry.
“We’re aware of those comments [of the attacker],” he told reporters in a press conference in Canberra on April 16. “Everything else is open lines of inquiry to understand why that individual got to where they did.”
Asked whether the conflict in Gaza could inspire similar incidents, Mr. Burgess said:
“In terms of the events in the Middle East, of course, they do resonate here in Australia,” he noted. “But we have not seen that to date actually cause individuals to go to acts of terror.”
“In this case, we’re keeping an open mind and we'll let that be a subject to the investigation of where we end up in our conclusions.”
The attack occurred as tensions in Gaza continued following Iran’s surprise attack on Israel.
Tehran received international condemnation after the regime fired about 350 rockets, 170 drones, and more than 30 cruise missiles at Israel on April 14. Most of the missiles were intercepted by the Israeli Defence Force’s defence systems.
‘Ideologically Motivated’
Mr. Burgess said for an event to be treated as a terrorist act, “you need indications of information or evidence that suggest the motivation was religiously motivated or ideologically motivated.”This was not the case for the stabbing at Bondi Junction on April 13, in which the attacker was confirmed to have mental illness, he noted.
“In this case, the information we have and the police have before us indicates that is strongly the case. That is why it was called an act of terrorism.”
“But it’s prudent that we do this to determine there’s no threats or immediate threats to security. At this time, we’re not seeing that.”
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said they were conducting a “very sophisticated investigation, that no stone is left unturned, and given the fact that we will be alleging it’s [a] religiously motivated violent act.”
Mr. Kershaw also criticised the riot including hundreds of community members that followed the stabbing incident.
“One of the things I do want to say though, is that it’s [a] disgraceful act from a community who attacked police at that scene,” he said.
“My support goes to the NSW police commissioner and the NSW police officers who are there to protect the community. And it was really un-Australian to see that happen last night.”
However, Christ the Good Shepherd Church member Mario Malik, who was on the scene on the evening of April 15, said the rioters and those committing violence towards the police were “not the regular churchgoers.”
“This congregation is only 200-300 people strong. The Monday night service is predominantly for an older, Assyrian congregation,” he told Sky News on April 17.
“When I arrived after being sent the video … the entire place was in gridlock, I observed people from many different nationalities, different cultures, different faiths.”
“The building itself was vandalised, I can guarantee you that no member of the Christ the Good Shepherd Church would be vandalising the building where the bishop was just praying for the perpetrator.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would “be a difficult day.”“The Assyrian community, in particular, my heart goes out to you today.”
