Gutnick Targeted in Second Terror Plot

Melbourne, Australia — Prominent Chabad identity Rabbi Joseph Gutnick has been named for the second time as the target of a terrorist assassination plot.

A French court last week heard that Rabbi Gutnick’s name was listed in a notebook filled with coded messages belonging to terror suspect Willie Brigitte.

The court heard that the notebook, found in Brigitte’s home in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba, also contained the names of Jemaah Islamiah spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir and Jack Roche, who is serving a nine-year jail sentence for conspiring to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.

But Rabbi Gutnick vowed he would not allow the latest revelations to affect his lifestyle, and said he had no immediate plans to increase his personal security. “I’m not going to allow individuals like these two to dictate my life,” Rabbi Gutnick told the AJN from New York this week.

“We can’t have these individuals telling us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do,” he said.

“It is concerning that my name has been brought up again by unsavoury individuals it’s not a pleasant thing to know that you’re on such a list. But we move forward and do what we can in regards to security and get on with our lives.”

Roche said in his 2004 trial that Rabbi Gutnick was the target of an al-Qaeda plot to attack Jewish interests in Australia. Rabbi Gutnick said he was in regular contact with national security agencies, including ASIO, and federal and state police, whom he praised for their vigilance in monitoring potential security threats.

“Lately I’m not as high-profile as I was in those years, but I go on, like they say, as though it’s business as usual. We have the Australian authorities and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) doing a good job with these individuals and hopefully that will keep happening and they will do what they can to protect Australian citizens, including myself.

“I believe they’re doing a good job and I’m thankful for what they are doing and hopefully they won’t have to be in contact with me. But they certainly are briefing us and letting us know of any possible dangers.”

Asked whether he would increase his personal security detail in light of the revelations in the Brigitte case, Rabbi Gutnick said: “Not at the moment. If the AFP would say they have a serious concern, I would, but that’s not the situation now.

“But the mere fact that something like this happens is concerning, and it’s concerning that there are still individuals in Australia and Melbourne who are full of this hate and disgraceful behaviour, but they are all being monitored.”