Australian PM Blames Antisemitism for Arson Attack on Melbourne Synagogue, Manhunt Underway for Suspects

Arsonists heavily damaged a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister called an antisemitic attack.

The fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue, which injured one person and caused extensive damage to the building, began early on Friday. Australian police said the assailants were wearing masks and they were searching for two people suspected of deliberately starting the fire.

While investigators have not yet identified a motive, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blamed antisemitism.

“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 in a statement that counter-terrorism police will liaise with Victoria state police on the investigation.

State police in Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, said a worshiper at the synagogue saw two people who appeared to be spreading accelerant inside the building before setting it on fire.

“We believe it was deliberate. We believe it has been targeted. What we don’t know is why and we’ll get to the why,” Detective Inspector Chris Murray told reporters.

“There was some banging on a door with some liquid thrown inside and was lit alight. The few people inside the synagogue ran outside the back door; one of them got burnt,” Adass Israel Synagogue board member Benjamin Klein told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks reportedly responded to the blaze.

Victoria state Premier Jacinta Allan said in a statement that the synagogue was “built by Holocaust survivors” in the suburb of Ripponlea.

“Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart,” Allan added, noting there would be a heavier police presence in the area. “We stand against antisemitism now and forever.”

In a post on X/Twitter, the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia called on the government to do more to combat rising antisemitism.

“The firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne appears to be another shocking escalation of the hate that we have seen brazenly displayed on the streets of Melbourne every week for over a year,” Jeremy Leibler said.

“No one should be surprised; this violent attack is a direct consequence of words turning into actions. Jew-hatred, left unchecked, endangers all Australians. Enough is enough, this is a stain on our nation. It’s time for all levels of government to turn their words into actions to stamp out this Jew-hatred,” he added.

Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), called on all of Australia to condemn the arson attack.

“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,” Aghion tols reporters. “Stand with us. Stand against this hate. And stand against this kind of horrendous attack which should not occur on Australian soil.”

Friday’s incident came just days after the ECAJ published a new report showing that antisemitism in Australia quadrupled to record levels over the past year, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.

The data included dozens of assaults and hundreds of incidents of property destruction and hate speech. Physical assaults recorded by the group jumped from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024. The level of antisemitism for the past year was six times the average of the preceding 10 years.

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, the number of attacks on Jews — digital, political, and physical — has skyrocketed in Australia since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

In one notorious episode in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, hundreds of pro-Hamas protesters gathered outside the Sydney Opera House chanting “gas the Jews,” “f—k the Jews,” and other epithets.

The explosion of hate also included vandalism and threats of gun violence, as well as incidents such as a brutal attack on a Jewish man in a park in Sydney.

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