Australia the 'perfect' target for new Islamist terror network

HAYI has claimed responsibility for an arson attack on these Hatzolah ambulances in London in March. (Reuters: Hannah McKay)

Experts are warning that an emerging terror network, which has already claimed responsibility for multiple attacks, needs to be taken seriously by foreign governments.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) first emerged online in March and is targeting Jewish people, symbols and buildings.

Authorities in the United States have arrested and charged a man they allege "planned, coordinated and claimed responsibility" for 20 HAYI attacks — a prosecution that is in its early stages.

Australia would be the "perfect" target for a fledgling Islamist terror network that has carried out multiple antisemitic attacks in Europe, the United Kingdom and Canada, experts have warned.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or HAYI, first emerged online in March and has so far professed to be behind about 20 acts of violence against Jewish people, buildings and symbols.

Authorities in the United States, and experts in multiple countries, have identified numerous connections between HAYI and Iran.

But this group behaves differently to the Islamic Republic's chief militant proxies, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and established jihadi organisations elsewhere, such as Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

HAYI has been described as a "ghost proxy" for Iran. Unlike other groups, it does not have a strict hierarchy or use ideologically motivated operatives for attacks.

Instead, it has a more fluid structure, where local criminals are recruited to carry out antisemitic missions.

The first attack HAYI claimed was an explosion outside a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège on March 9. More recently, the group declared it had been behind an April 29 stabbing in north-west London, in which two Jewish men were seriously injured.

Police officers secure the streets in Golders Green, north London, after an antisemitic attack in the area last month. (Reuters: Hannah McKay)

Guy Fiennes is a research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an independent not-for-profit that aims to safeguard democracies against extremism. He describes HAYI as a "ghost proxy" directed by a "hostile state".

Instead of spending time and resources training militants, it recruits petty criminals and offers them money to carry out its attacks. Flexible work arrangements like this are often referred to as the "gig economy", and Mr Fiennes argues that term now extends to terrorism.

"We know this network is linked to Iran and its proxies," Mr Fiennes said. "Most of the perpetrator