Three decades after twin bombings rocked the Israeli Consulate and a Jewish social club in Sydney, Australian detectives believe they are closing in on the suspected perpetrators of the attacks that took place just two days before Christmas in 1982.

No one was killed in the blasts at the consulate and the Hakoah Club, an iconic sports and social club in Sydney, but two people were wounded, one seriously. Police have made previous arrests in the case, but charges against one suspect were dropped in 1984 due to insufficient evidence. Then, last year, police established a special strike force called “Operation Forbearance” to investigate the two bombings. Detectives confirmed they had traveled to Israel to interview former consulate staff and witnesses of the bombings.

Now, three decades on, the reopened cold case appears to be reaching its end-game. Caroline O’Hare, a counterterrorism and special tactics detective-inspector in Sydney, told Haaretz this week that new technology has enabled detectives to recover fingerprints and DNA evidence from both sites.

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Police are now matching the DNA with Australians they suspect of being involved in the attacks.

“It’s not a simple thing,” O’Hare said. “We’re in the process of using DNA we’ve collected against all suspects. There are a lot of suspects in Australia who are still around.”

For more go to Haaretz

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