Australian law enforcement officials announced Thursday they detained several men near Sydney after responding to information that "a violent act was possibly being planned." Amy Mitchell, senior fellow at George Mason University's National Security Institute, joins CBS News to discuss.

Council of the City of Sydney

Australian police have detained several men near Sydney after receiving information about a possible planned violent act, in the wake of a recent terrorist attack at Bondi Beach. The attack, which resulted in 15 deaths and dozens of injuries, has led to an ongoing investigation, with officials stating that the suspects may have been inspired by ISIS.

Authorities are utilizing various investigative tools, including analysis of communications and travel history, as they pursue leads. The incident has also sparked discussions about a global rise in anti-Semitic attacks, with experts noting the challenges in addressing such threats.

Australian police detain several men allegedly planning violent act

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney, Australia today for the funeral of the youngest victim in Sunday's mass shooting, a 10-year-old publicly identified only as Matilda. Well, I, you know, I'm not that sure that I'm capable in expressing how I feel. I have a 10-year-old granddaughter. And when I see Matilda, I see my own Auri granddaughter. I really, I'm speechless. Matilda has become a symbol for the country as Australia attempts to grapple with the aftermath of last weekend's terrorist attack. A suspect has been charged with murder and terrorism. Australian law enforcement officials announced they've detained several men near Sydney after responding to information that, quote, a violent act was possibly being planned. The news comes as Bondi Beach reopened today, four days after the deadly terrorist attack there. Mourners visited the growing makeshift memorial, placing flowers in remembrance of the 15 people who were killed and to honor the dozens of those who were injured. The investigation into the attack remains ongoing, but officials said that they believe the two suspects were inspired by ISIS. Joining us now is Amy Mitchell, a senior fellow at George Mason University's National Security Institute. Amy, thanks for being here. I want to get your reaction today to the news that Australian law enforcement detained several people on this tip of a potential violent act. Yeah, so I think, first of all, it's thank you for having me on. And what happened at Bondi is just tragic for everyone in the world. And you point out Matilda as those of us who are very familiar with Australia. You know, Matilda is kind of a national name coming from waltzing Matilda, one of their common traditional songs down there. And so I can see how that would resonate. You know, I think we have seen two different acts happening. We saw the attack on Sunday, obviously targeting Jewish Australians. And now the police are looking at those ties and really beginning to see that there might be something bigger going on in Sydney and quite possibly most of Australia. How do police and intelligence officers track down potential threats like this? They have a lot of different tools. So, you know, they're looking at, for example, who were the first suspects communicating with. Right. What did they have in their car? What kind of chat rooms were they on on the Internet? Who had they made phone calls to? I think that had been reported that they had recently visited the Philippines and might have become, you know, transformed there. We don't know the answers yet, but obviously the Australian police are finding leads and they are actively running them down. What can officials do about addressing the rise in anti-Semitic attacks? You know, this is this is a really tough, sad question that we are seeing this rise globally of anti-Semitic attacks. I think that the rhetoric over the last couple of years between Israel and Gaza and you saw this in Europe, you saw this here in the United States got out of control. And in Australia as well, there was a firebombing near Melbourne a few years ago that was directly tied to that that war. And, you know, anti-Semitism is a very dark force. And what since once it's unleashed, it's really hard to put it back in the box. And we saw this the last time we saw such a spike in anti-Semitism was very sadly World War Two. Amy Mitchell, thank you.

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