Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne and stressed that there is no place for antisemitism in the country.
“I unequivocally condemn the attack on a Melbourne synagogue early this morning. I have zero tolerance for antisemitism. It has absolutely no place in Australia,” Albanese said in a statement hours after the attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue.
“This violence and intimidation and destruction at a place of worship is an outrage. This attack has risked lives and is clearly aimed at creating fear in the community. The people involved must be caught and face the full force of the law,” stated the Australian Prime Minister.
“I have been briefed by the AFP Commissioner this morning. The Commonwealth will provide full assistance to Victorian authorities.”
“This deliberate, unlawful attack goes against everything we are as Australians and everything we have worked so hard to build as a nation,” concluded Albanese.
The fire at the synagogue, which police have described as "suspicious", broke out at 4:10 a.m. Friday morning (local time).
A board member of the synagogue, Benjamin Klein, told the AFP news agency that a few congregants were sitting and praying inside when the fire started.
"They heard loud banging," Klein said, adding that liquid was poured inside the synagogue and set alight.
"If this had happened an hour later, there would have been hundreds of people inside," Klein stated.
The congregants "ran out the back of the synagogue. One man who ran out -- his hand got burnt," he said, adding, "The fire was extensive. Inside is completely gutted."
Holy books and furniture had been destroyed, he said, vowing that the community would "rebuild".
Police said there was "significant damage" to the building. Two people were lightly injured in the blaze.
The incident is the latest in a string of antisemitic incidents, which have surged in Australia, as well as other countries around the world, since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Earlier this week, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) published a report which found that Australian Jews experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents over the past year, more than quadruple the number from the previous year.
The report found that a total of 2,062 incidents of antisemitism were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, far more than the 495 incidents noted a year earlier.
Previous examples of antisemitism in Australia include a 44-year-old Jewish man who was beaten by three pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrators in Sydney in November of last year.
In June of this year, antisemitic vandals set fire to the office of Jewish Member of Parliament Josh Burns. The vandals smashed windows and set a fire at the front of the office. The words ''Zionism is fascism" were written on the office wall in red paint.