Arsonists burn Australian synagogue, injuring one

Firefighters responded shortly after 4 a.m. Friday to Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne neighborhood of Ripponlea. A witness told police he saw two masked men spreading an accelerant inside the building before they lit the blaze. The fire injured one person and caused significant damage to the synagogue, said Victoria Police Detective Inspector Chris Murray. Police have not named any suspects or a motive, but statepolice will coordinate with counter-terrorism police to investigate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday.

How have officials responded to the attack? Albanese condemned the fire as an act of anti-Semitism and said such violent incidents have no place in Australia. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan visited the site and offered nearly $64,000 to help the congregation rebuild. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and called on local authorities to stop future anti-Semitic acts. He claimed that the Australian government has taken what amounts to an anti-Israel position by calling for an end to the war in Gaza. A report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry found there were four times as many anti-Semitic incidents in the country between October 2023 and September 2024 compared to the same time period the previous year.

What is the history of the synagogue? Holocaust survivors built the building in the 1960s, Allan said. Many of the original congregants immigrated from Hungary after World War II.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report about anti-Semitic attacks in Amsterdam.