A Sydney man is behind bars after being charged for allegedly creating an anti-Semitic website which displayed Nazi symbols and a violent video.
The 60-year-old was arrested at a home in Jannali on Tuesday by members of an Australian Federal Police National Security Investigations (NSI) team, and NSW Police.
Police examined his electronic devices and charged him with one count of “public display of prohibited hate symbols”, and one count of “publishing violent extremist material using a carriage service”. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
The man was also served with a Weapons Prohibition Order and a Firearms Prohibition Order.
He was formally refused bail, and will appear in court again on August 26.
The AFP said it launched an investigation in July after “intelligence was received regarding a website allegedly displaying anti-Semitic content”, and then allegedly linked the website to the man.
Police allege the website contained online articles which displayed Nazi symbols, anti-Semitic content, and a video containing extremist violence.
The NSI teams were set up by AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett soon after her appointment last year, and she has since described them as her “flying squad of hate disruptors”.
In November and December the NSI teams carried out a highly publicised series of raids and arrests over social media posts while the Bondi Islamic terrorists were planning their massacre undetected.
A week after the attack Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced funding to double the number of the teams, despite public outcry over the AFP’s focus on “hate speech” and the failure of security services to detect and stop the ISIS-inspired terrorists.
Then in February Ms Barrett said the NSI teams had ramped up their aggression since new “hate speech” laws were passed by the major parties a month earlier.
Header image: Left, the man being arrested. Right, an officer searching his devices (AFP).
