Australia rebuffs Netanyahu’s claim synagogue arson due to ‘anti-Israel’ government
Minister touts Canberra’s action against hate speech, funding for Jewish groups; ex-pols urge PM Albanese to declare arson that gutted Melbourne’s Adass Israel a terrorist act
Australia’s government defended its record on curbing antisemitism on Saturday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue on what he described as Canberra’s “extreme anti-Israel position.”
The statement by Australian Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt came amid growing calls for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to declare the arson a terrorist act, even as local police have said they could not yet establish the arsonists’ motive.
Police said on Saturday they were still looking for two people suspected of starting the pre-dawn fire that injured one congregant and caused widespread damage to the Orthodox synagogue in Melbourne’s southeast suburb of Ripponlea, home to a large Jewish community. The arsonists were said to have donned masks during the attack and spread an accelerant in the synagogue’s interior.
Watt pushed back on Netanyahu’s comment, saying that the Albanese government has “taken a range of strong actions to stand against antisemitism and to stamp it out from our community.”
Since taking office in May 2022, the center-left Labor government has taken action against hate speech, banned the Nazi salute, and provided $25 million to Jewish organizations to upgrade security and safety at Jewish sites, including schools, Watt said.
“I respectfully disagree with Prime Minister Netanyahu on this matter,” Watt said in Brisbane, according to a transcript.
Meanwhile, at a joint press conference on Saturday, former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg, of the opposition conservative Liberal Party, and former Senator Nova Peris, a pro-Israel Aboriginal activist from Albanese’s own Labor Party, called on the Australian premier to declare the arson a terrorist act.
“There was a firebombing of a place of worship with people inside who have been injured as a result,” said Frydenberg, who is Jewish.
“The legislation is very clear,” he added. “It is a terrorist attack, and it needs to be declared as such.”
On Saturday, The Australian reported that Albanese held a closed-door meeting with some 100 Jewish community members at a synagogue in Perth.
The report said the community had invited Albanese, and that the premier would hold a press conference on the firebombing on Sunday.
In a statement posted to X Saturday, Albanese repeated his condemnation of the “despicable attack,” calling it antisemitic and “un-Australian.”
“The Jewish community has made an extraordinary contribution to the strength and success of our nation, over generations,” he said.
“In this deeply distressing time, I want every member of the Jewish community to know our government unequivocally condemns the prejudice you have been targeted with.”
The statement came a day after Netanyahu wrote on X that the Melbourne synagogue arson was “impossible to separate” from Australia’s vote on Sunday in favor of a UN motion calling on Israel to end its “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Netanyahu also singled out the Albanese government’s denial of entry visa to former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in October over her anti-Palestinian statements.
“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism,” said Netanyahu.
The Australian Jewish Association and Australian Opposition Leader Petter Dutton had similarly linked the arson to what they described as the Albanese government’s failure to stand with Israel.
Jewish community members also heckled Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan as she spoke outside Adass Israel on Friday, accusing her of losing control of the state and letting threats against Jews proliferate. Allan was forced to cut her press conference short due to the heckling.
The arson came as the Australian Jewish community, which consists of around 100,000 Jews, reported a fourfold increase in antisemitic incidents amid the war in Gaza sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Exclusive footage showing the devastating aftermath inside the firebombed synagogue in Melbourne, Australia. pic.twitter.com/UdwtRXfBUE
— Osher Feldman (@OsherFeldman) December 6, 2024
Soon after the arson, Victorian police also removed a man from a nearby Jewish bakery after he wielded a hammer and abused community members. No injuries were reported in the incident.
According to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, physical attacks on Jews in the country spiked from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024.
