Police hunt 2 suspects in devastating arson attack on Melbourne’s Addas Israel synagogue
Victoria state premier pledges funds for repairs, is heckled by outraged Jewish community members; Netanyahu blames attack on Canberra’s ‘extreme anti-Israel’ stance
Australian police said Friday that two people suspected of torching a synagogue in Melbourne were still at large, as members of the local Jewish community expressed outrage at their government for failing to protect them amid surging antisemitism.
Mask-wearing assailants set ablaze the Orthodox Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, a southeast suburb of the Victorian capital and home to a large Jewish community. A board member for the synagogue told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that one congregant was burned in the attack.
Following the attack, Melbourne police beefed up security at several Jewish institutions, Australia’s 7NEWS reported.
The inside of the building was gutted, eyewitnesses said, and holy books were destroyed. Community members were seen rescuing Torah scrolls from the building.
In a sign of the apprehension of the local community, a leading Orthodox rabbi in Melbourne ruled that in the “current uncertain times,” Jews there may carry their phones, on silent, over the Sabbath, when electronic devices are normally prohibited, according to messages circulating on social media and local WhatsApp groups.
Community members expressed their fury and frustration with local authorities.
In a press conference outside the synagogue, Victoria state Premier Jacinta Allan noted that the synagogue was “built by Holocaust survivors.” Many of the synagogue’s original worshipers were post-World War II immigrants from Hungary.
Exclusive footage showing the devastating aftermath inside the firebombed synagogue in Melbourne, Australia. pic.twitter.com/UdwtRXfBUE
— Osher Feldman (@OsherFeldman) December 6, 2024
Allan offered 100,000 Australian dollars ($64,300) to help repair the synagogue and said there would be an increased police presence in the area.
“Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart,” Allan said.
“We stand against antisemitism now and forever,” she added.
However, according to Sky News Australia, Allan was forced to cut the press conference short after she was repeatedly heckled for having “lost control of the state” and let threats to the Jewish community proliferate. The outlet said locals yelled “Shame on you, Jacinta!” as she headed to her car.
Local police said the attack, which destroyed the building and left one congregant with burns, was targeted, but that its motive was still unclear.
However, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “An attack on a synagogue is by definition an act of antisemitism.”
This afternoon I visited the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea.
There, I saw the damage left behind by this sickening anti-Semitic attack.
I also spoke with members of the Adass Israel congregation, and assured them of our next steps. pic.twitter.com/mAan1MLkVf
— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) December 6, 2024
“This was a shocking incident to be unequivocally condemned. There is no place in Australia for an outrage such as this,” Albanese told reporters.
“To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue is an act of antisemitism, is attacking the right that all Australians should have to practice their faith in peace and security,” he added.
Counter-terrorism police will liaise with Victoria state police on the investigation, Albanese said.
A religious leader at the torched synagogue, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, described the arsonists as “thugs.”
“Tonight is the Sabbath. We must all go and find a sense of calmness, comradery and community by gathering for the Sabbath tonight and praying together as one community,” Klatmann told reporters outside the synagogue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the attack on the “extreme anti-Israel” stance of Albanese’s government. In a post on X, Netanyahu said the arson was “impossible to separate” from Canberra’s vote on Tuesday in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, and its refusal in October to issue a visa for Israel’s former justice minister Ayelet Shaked due to her anti-Palestinian statements.
“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism,” added Netanyahu.
The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an abhorrent act of antisemitism. I expect the state authorities to use their full weight to prevent such antisemitic acts in the future.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 6, 2024
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, writing on X, called the synagogue attack “abhorrent.”
“Antisemitism must be relentlessly confronted. I urge Australian authorities to act swiftly and ensure the despicable perpetrators are brought to justice,” he said.
Reacting to the arson, Australia’s Opposition Leader Petter Dutton had similarly accused Albanese of failing to support Israel.
The Australian Jewish Association also said it was “outraged but not all surprised” by the attack, due to the feeling that Australia’s government had abandoned the Jewish community.
Albanese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Association’s statement.
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the broader Australian community needed to condemn the arson attack.
“I’ve been getting phone calls this morning from the Hindu community, from other people, from good people who are prepared to stand up and that’s my message for this morning to Australia, to the good people of Australia,” Aghion told reporters.
“Don’t leave the Jewish people behind. Don’t isolate us. Don’t leave us exposed to the risk of attacks upon our religious institutions, our communal institutions. Stand with us. Stand against this hate. And stand against this kind of horrendous attack which should not occur on Australian soil,” he added.
The arson came as the Australian Jewish community 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.
Soon after the arson, Victorian police also removed a man from a nearby Jewish bakery after he wielded a hammer and abused community members.
According to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, physical attacks on Jews in the country spiked from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024.
Some 100,000 Jews live in Australia.
