From the Liveblog of
Friday, June 19, 2026
Police charge third suspect in Melbourne synagogue attack blamed on Iran
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MELBOURNE, Australia — Police charge a third suspect with an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue that Australia says was directed by Iran.
The 20-year-old man was one of three masked offenders who broke into the Adass Israel Synagogue, doused the interior with flammable liquid, then set it alight in the early hours of December 6, 2024, a police statement alleged.
The fire caused extensive damage to the synagogue, and a worshipper sustained minor injuries.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which brings together federal and state police with a spy agency, charges the man, who has not been named, with offenses including arson.
He is charged in a Melbourne jail, where he is already being held in custody on unrelated offenses. Police decline to elaborate on those offenses.
His co-accused, Giovanni Laulu, 21, was arrested in July last year, and another suspect, Younes Ali Younes, 20, was arrested a month later.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of directing the synagogue fire and an arson attack two months earlier at a Sydney kosher eatery, Lewis’ Continental Kitchen.
The Times of Israel Community.