Australia 'legitimate terror target', court told

A British-born terror suspect accused of plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra told a journalist that US interests in Australia were legitimate terror targets, a court heard today.

A taped conversation between Jack Roche – who has pleaded not guilty to plotting to blow up the embassy – and the journalist, was played in Perth District Court.

Roche, 50, faces a maximum 25-year sentence if convicted.

“Why should the only people who are allowed to fight be the United States? There are a lot of US interests in Australia and these would be legitimate targets,” Roche is heard saying on the tape.

Roche, an Islamic convert, told a journalist from The Australian newspaper that he believed one million children had died across the world as a result of US sanctions.

“If someone punches you, you are allowed to punch them back. I am very concerned about my brothers and sisters of Islam who are being punched by these people,” Roche said during the interview.

Prosecutors allege that senior al-Qaida operatives instructed Roche to focus on Jewish targets in Australia, either the Israeli embassy or well-known Australian Jewish businessman Joe Gutnick, according to notes taken by Roche and read out to court yesterday.

Gutnick, a Melbourne mining magnate and rabbi who is one of Australia’s richest men, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and known for large donations to the Israeli government.

Roche also recorded in his notes that Hambali, the alleged operations chief of Southeast Asia terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, gave him £45,000 to carry out an attack.

The trial, expected to last weeks, was continuing.