Australian PM heckled during visit to Melbourne synagogue gutted in arson attack
Anthony Albanese meets Jewish leaders outside torched building, urges unity after ‘evil’ blaze, as crowd members accuse him of ‘letting this happen’ and being slow to show up
Crowds heckled Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday as he toured the charred wreckage of a Melbourne synagogue that was destroyed in an arson attack last week, lobbing accusations of blame at him and criticizing his belated visit to the site.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Jewish leaders outside the synagogue, pledging to do whatever was necessary to help rebuild in the wake of “this evil crime.”
Video from the visit shared on social media showed Albanese surrounded by a crowd of Jewish community members and media as he made a statement outside the Adass Israel Synagogue, an ultra-Orthodox institute.
Amid jostling and as Albanese moved back to his car, hecklers began shouting at him.
A woman in the crowd yelled, “Your words are cheap and late, you let this happen.”
A man could be heard shouting “Mr. prime minister you perpetrated…” but the rest of his remark was unintelligible as Albanese’s security detail shouted at people to move back and not touch his car.
Footage from PM Albanese’s visit to the firebombed Adass Synagogue in Melbourne, deemed a domestic terror attack, shows him being heckled and criticised for not visiting the site sooner. He fled without responding to questions from the media or the public. / Full livestream… pic.twitter.com/UESf9lng8h
— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) December 10, 2024
Another shouted “Go live in Gaza,” the News.com outlet reported, an apparent reference to what is seen as a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel stance taken by the Albanese government.
Another called out that it was “time to resign,” the report said.
According to the outlet, Jewish community leaders had asked that the prime minister not be heckled. There has reportedly been mounting anger that he did not arrange a visit sooner.
As Albanese drove away, some people in the crowd could be heard thanking members of his entourage and security people who were still there.
During the visit, Albanese met with Yumi Friedman who was inside the synagogue during the attack, 9News reported.
Counter-terror police are hunting for three suspects believed responsible for torching the Adass Israel Synagogue in the early hours of Friday.
The blaze was met with international condemnation, while a leading Jewish human rights group has warned Australia may no longer be safe for Jewish visitors.
A congregant inside the single-story building suffered minor injuries and the incident has strained relations between Australia and its ally Israel, as well as between Australian authorities and the local Jewish community.
“This arson attack is an act of terrorism. It was fuelled by antisemitism and it was stoked by hatred,” said Albanese, donning a Jewish skullcap and flanked by Jewish community leaders.
“We’re a country that needs to come together and unite.”
Albanese was set to hold a press conference about the attack later Tuesday.
Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon also visited the synagogue, saying the incident was “shocking and sad” and describing the attackers as “terrorists,” 9News reported.
Top police officials have said the attack was “likely a terrorist incident,” mobilizing investigative resources across a string of government agencies.
On Monday, Australia launched an antisemitism task force to probe the incident.
State and federal police, along with the country’s domestic intelligence service, will work in tandem to identify the three suspects wanted in connection with the attack, Shane Patton, Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, told a news conference.
Police initially said on Friday they did not believe the fire met the threshold of a terror attack. Designating it a suspected terror incident gives investigators additional resources and powers that include preventative detention, Patton said.
Police have also stepped up patrols of Jewish areas in Melbourne in order to reassure the community there, he added.
It is the latest antisemitic attack in Australia following the vandalism of a Jewish MP’s office in Melbourne in June and antisemitic graffiti daubed last month on cars in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, an area with a large Jewish population.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights group, has scolded the Australian government for failing to do enough to stamp out antisemitism.
“The Simon Wiesenthal Center is placing a travel advisory on Australia for Jews the world over considering travel to your country to exercise extreme caution,” it said in a letter to Australia’s US ambassador.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Australian government of harboring “anti-Israel sentiment.”
“This heinous act cannot be separated from the anti-Israel sentiment emanating from the Australian Labor government,” he said last week.
His comments came just days after Australia voted for a United Nations General Assembly resolution that demanded the end of what it called Israel’s “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Australia has seen an increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents since the start of a war between Israel and Hamas last year, which began when the Palestinian terror group led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Some Jewish organizations have said the government has not taken sufficient action in response.
Dozens of pro-Palestine protests over the past year have remained mostly peaceful, though the government has raised concerns they could threaten social cohesion.
