Australian magistrate rules synagogue arsonist motivated by mental illness, not antisemitism

A man who set fire to a Melbourne synagogue while worshippers were inside was motivated by mental illness rather than antisemitism, an Australian magistrate says.

Angelo Loras, 35, had pleaded guilty to arson and recklessly placing people at risk of death on July 4 when he doused the front door of the East Melbourne Synagogue with flammable liquid and ignited it. Around 20 worshippers were inside sharing a Shabbat meal, but no one was injured.

Reports of antisemitic incidents have risen sharply across Australia since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Government leaders suspected the attack on the synagogue, which is also known as the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, was a hate crime.

The morning after the fire, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a statement saying the arson attack was “cowardly, is an act of violence and antisemitism, and has no place in Australian society.”

But Magistrate Malcolm Thomas rules that Loras was not motivated by antisemitism but had been in the grip of a terrifying delusion stemming from his failure to take medication for schizophrenia.

Thomas sentences Loras to four months’ imprisonment, which is less than the 138 days he has already spent in custody.

While Loras is eligible for release today, he is also ordered to continue medical treatment for schizophrenia for 20 months and to perform unpaid work.

Loras describes himself on the social media platform X as “Single, Iranian, forklift driver, music lover.”

The Australian government has blamed Iran for an earlier arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, which security officers describe as an antisemitic crime aimed at undermining Australian social cohesion.

Australian spy agencies accuse Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards of organizing arson attacks on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in December last year and on a Sydney kosher food business two months earlier. Iran has denied any involvement. Both buildings were extensively damaged.