We mark the 1st anniversary of Yom Kippur Terrorist Attack in Halle, Germany, by sharing our response to that attack and our impact against terrorism

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OHPI's Impact in Counter Terrorism

Dear Supporter,

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, begins on Sunday night. Last year on Yom Kippur an extremist armed with homemade guns and explosives targeted the synagogue in Halle Germany. The day was chosen to ensure maximum casualties. While the security measures at the Synagogue kept the attacker out, a woman who passed by was killed and the attacker eventually moved on to a secondary target shooting a Muslim man at point blank range at a nearby takeaway store.

Though the Jewish community was the primary target, the Halle manifesto directly called on readers to kill Jews, Muslims, Christians, Communists, people of colour and traitors. When a society allows such hate to spread, no one is safe.

The attack was the result of online radicalization. It was the fourth terrorist attack coming from the same online source of far-right radicalisation: two mosques were attacking in Christchurch (New Zealand), a synagogue was attacked in Poway (California, USA), Mexicans and immigrants were targeted at a Walmart in El Paso (Texas, USA), then the synagogue in Halle (Germany). All of this in the space of a single year.

The Online Hate Prevention Institute responded immediately to each of these attacks. We works to have the terrorist manifestos and videos of tacks removed. We analysed the manifestos and communications of the attackers and the spread of their terrorist propaganda. After the second attack we called for the source of the incitement to be treated as a supporter of terrorism, and after the third attack others joined this call including Cloudflare who suspended services to them.

Our detailed report into this source of terrorism received support from local and international experts, the technology sector, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the European Commission. It analyses both the attack and the response. It provides recommendations to reduce the threat from this online radicalisation. With its many detailed recommendations it has made a significant impact in policy circles internationally.

The full report is available for download via our website.

Below are some highlights from the report and from our work since then to remove copies of this manifesto which not only incites violence, but also provides instructions to make guns and explosives to carry out that violence.

While government spending has gone into spreading such extremism (unintentionally of course, see below) it has not gone into supporting the vital work of the Online Hate Prevention Institute. We are at present entirely reliant on support from the public, and should another attack like this occur, we would be unable to provide the same level of world class leadership as we have in the past to both prevent the spread of violence and keep the community safe.

Donations to support our work are tax deductible and can be made via the PayPal Giving Fund, or you can use your online banking to make a transfer to the "Online Hate Prevention Fund", BSB: 083-088 Account: 73-337-6910. If you make a bank transfer please reply to this e-mail with the details so we send you your tax deductible receipt. Donations via PayPal will receive an immediate receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund.

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to others who may not be aware of our work.

Kind regards,

Dr Andre Oboler
CEO, Online Hate Prevention Institute

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Recent Highlights in Countering Terrorism

Christchurch Report
Immediately after the Christchurch attack we began a report into the incident which was updated regularly with analysis and information as we worked.

Christchurch Actions
We provided extensive analysis and deep background to the media in Australia and overseas about online radicalisation. The background was updated with links to ongoing coverage we provided in television, radio and print / online media.

Media engagement: ABC 7.30
Our CEO, Dr Andre Oboler, appeared in a segment on the ABC's 7.30 program discussing the aftermath of Christchurch and how we can prevent further attacks.

ABC News
In an interview with ABC News, which was then syndicated internationally by MSN, we discussed monitoring online hate and extremism and what can and can’t be done. There was a focus on Artificial Intelligence and the role is can play, but with an emphasis that it has limitations and will not provide a complete solution.

Poway Attack
Following the attack on the synagogue in Poway (California, USA) we released a brief report and took action which led to the original two copies of the manifesto the terrorist had posted being removed.

Meeting the Federal Minister
We discussed our work tackling extremism in a meeting with Paul Fletcher, the Federal Minister for Communications and Online Safety. In the meeting went through our efforts supporting police, removing terrorist manifestos, tracking extremism and working with social media companies to rapidly remove threats.

Halle Attack
After the attack on Yom Kippur in Halle, Germany, we released a major report examining this attack and the serie of incidents and online radicalisation that has created what was now clearly a systemic problem and on going threat.

Stopping Terrorist Financing
We provided a presentation on fundraising methods used by online extremists to a meeting of the major banks' anti-money laundering / counter terrorism finance staff. In the meeting we share details of Melbourne based financial services firm whose advertising was appearing along side terrorist material. We worked with them to resolve the matter.

Removing Hitler's incitement material
Our work with the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry led to Dymocks removing close to 100 online editions of Mein Kampf, some of which were designed for extremists.

Government ads on terrorist content
In March 2020 we discovered a joint project of the NSW, South Australian and Victorian governments displaying advertising next to a copy of the terrorist manifesto from Halle. We worked with the project's technical staff to stop the advertising and remove the manifesto.

Evidence to the Victorian Parliament
We presented to the Victorian Parliament on our work, including the our work to stopping Victorian tax payers funding the promotion of terrorism and calls to kill Jews (see above). A transcript is available.

Closure of "The Aus-Right"
In August 2020 an OHPI confidential report and our discussions with Facebook let to the closure of "The Aus-Right" Facebook page. The White Nationalism page promoted racism and regularly called for Melbourne to be Nuked. These attacks started in response to comments by Canadian Alt-Right activist Lauren Southern on a 2018 visit to Australia but they intensified during COVID-19.

Supporting our work
We do require funding to enable our work and unfortunately government is not stepping up to meet this urgent need. We are reliant on public donations to continue our work to keep people safe.

You can support our work via the PayPal Giving Fund (e.g. using your credit card), or with a transfer via online banking to "Online Hate Prevention Fund", BSB: 083-088 Account: 73-337-6910. If you make a bank transfer please e-mail to let us know at ohpi@ohpi.org.au.