Australian PM says synagogue arson is ‘definition of terrorism’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says a deliberately lit fire in a Melbourne synagogue was an act of “terrorism” and warns about the “worrying rise in antisemitism” in the country.

Mask-wearing arsonists set the Adass Israel Synagogue in a Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea ablaze before dawn on Friday, gutting much of the building, though there were no serious injuries. Authorities are still on the hunt for the perpetrators.

Albanese says the fire at the synagogue was the “definition of terrorism”.

“There has been a worrying rise in antisemitism,” the prime minister tells reporters, adding that he would continue to “call it out.”

“Terrorism is something that is aimed at creating fear in the community and the atrocities that occurred at the synagogue in Melbourne clearly were designed to create fear in the community,” he says.

Australian police — who determine whether an incident is a terrorist act — will meet Monday to see if the fire meets the official criteria, as they continue to hunt down the two arsonists.

Conservative politicians and Jewish groups have criticized Albanese’s government for what they say is a failure to call out antisemitism, drawing a direct line to the government’s opposition to Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton accuses Albanese of thinking “that by not taking a strong stance in relation to antisemitism, that somehow that will deliver him political benefit domestically.”