A $1m reward has been announced to help solve a 40-year mystery – the bombing of Sydney’s Israeli consulate and the Hakoah Club, which shook the Jewish community.
The increased reward was announced on Monday, the first day of a coronial inquiry into Australia’s first terrorism cold case.
A bomb exploded in front of the consulate about 2pm on 23 December 1982, injuring a number of people.
Later that day a car parked in the basement the Hakoah Club at Bondi exploded and, although no one
Investigations deemed the bombings to be acts of international terrorism motivated by Palestinian nationalism.
A man was charged in 1983 but the matter was no-billed before the trial began.
In 2011 investigators from the New South Wales joint counter-terrorism team established Strike Force Forbearance to reinvestigate the bombings. A $100,000 reward was announced in 2012.
Investigators want to track down three people who they believe were involved and detectives have prepared a coronial brief of evidence, which is being heard as an inquiry before the NSW state coroner on Monday.
The police minister, Paul Toole, said it was hoped the $1m reward would “be the final push members of the public need to offer up information – no matter how big or small it may seem – to help police in their unwavering quest for answers and provide closure for all those involved”.
The counter-terrorism and special tactics commander, assistant commissioner Mark Walton, said: “It is our hope that the reward will motivate those who know who was involved in the bombings to come forward and help us solve this 40-year-old mystery.”
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive, Darren Bark, said the Jewish community remained hopeful that someone with information would come forward.
“For four long decades, our community has searched for answers about this heinous terrorist attack targeting innocent Australians on our own soil,” Bark said.
