<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>337447</docID> <postdate>2025-02-03 09:44:10</postdate> <headline>Neo-Nazi group sanctioned to block anti-Semitism</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-337448" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20230729001825492522-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>An online neo-Nazi, white supremacy group has been sanctioned by the Australian government. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Counter-terrorism sanctions against a neo-Nazi and white supremacist group are in place to tackle rising anti-Semitism and help curb radicalisation.</strong></p> <p>Terrorgram is an online network that promised racially motivated violence, the federal government said.</p> <p>Its channels share fascist content and details on how members can carry out racially-motivated violence including against minority groups, police, public figures, politicians and journalists.</p> <p>The sanctions make it a criminal offence to use or deal with assets, or provide assets, to Terrorgram under the threat of up to 10 years in prison and heavy fines.</p> <p>"We have to use all the tools of government to prevent the rise of extremism, to confront anti-Semitism and to confront hate in all its forms, and we are doing that," Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Canberra on Monday.</p> <p>"These are all important matters. We all have to work together because fundamentally this goes to who we are as Australians."</p> <p>While there were Australians on the platform, it was difficult to determine the location of all users, Senator Wong said.</p> <p>"This is about making it more difficult for the extremist groups to operate ... a part of that is because we don't want our young people to be radicalised," she said.</p> <p>It is the first time Australia has imposed counter-terrorism financing sanctions on an entirely online entity, Senator Wong said.</p> <p>Debate on strengthened hate speech laws will continue in federal parliament in this week, with the opposition pushing for mandatory minimum prison sentences for terror offences.</p> <p>It follows a spate of anti-Semitic attacks including the targeting of synagogues and the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives in Sydney's northwest with a note containing addresses of Jewish institutions.</p> <p>The explosives had the capacity to cause a 40 metre radius blast, but no detonator was found.</p> <p>Senator Wong didn't comment on whether the group was linked to any incidents in Australia, saying she wouldn't discuss operational matters.</p> <p>On the weekend eggs were hurled at five young women near Sydney's Bondi beach and cars and buildings were spray-painted with anti-Semitic slogans.</p> <p>It's alleged the women were targeted by three young men in a silver Mazda that crashed onto a kerb with the engine running on Saturday night. The car contained a carton of eggs and an empty jerrycan.</p> <p>Strikeforce Pearl commander Detective Superintendent Darren Newman said investigators were treating the matter as an anti-Semitic incident noting that the young women's clothing possibly made them targets.</p> <p>On Monday, in a separate incident, NSW Police said they had charged a 21-year-old male with intimidation offences after a woman reported anti-Semitic abuse by a man in the yard of a private premises in Bondi. He was refused bail to appear in Newtown Local Court.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the foreign minister also re-listed sanctions for the National Socialist Order, the Russian Imperial Movement, Sonnenkrieg Division and The Base for promoting nationalist and racist violent extremist ideologies.</p> <p>"This demonstrates the Albanese government's commitment to disrupting the activities of terrorists and violent extremists and preventing them from recruiting and radicalising people online," Senator Wong said.</p> <p>"There is no place in Australia for anti-Semitism, hatred or violence."</p> <p>The secretary-general and leading spokesperson for the designated terrorist group Hezbollah have also been sanctioned.</p> </body>