Police Seek Suspects In Australia Synagogue Blaze

Police are searching for two masked people seen spreading accelerant through a Melbourne synagogue early Friday before it burst into flames in a suspected antisemitic attack condemned by Jewish groups and the prime minister.

Worshippers fled from the Adass Israel Synagogue in the city’s south when the blaze took hold around 4 a.m. Friday morning. The synagogue regularly holds overnight prayers.

“There was banging on the door. Some liquid was thrown inside and was lit alight. The few people inside the synagogue ran outside the back door. One of them got burned,” said a board member from the synagogue Benjamin Klein, speaking to the national broadcaster of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

“The whole place took alight pretty quickly,” Klein said.

Officers from the Victoria Police Arson and Explosives Squad are investigating what they say was a deliberate attack on one of Australia’s most significant Jewish centers.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Detective Inspector Chris Murray said two figures were seen “spreading an accelerant of some type inside the premises.”

Murray said the attack was “targeted” but stopped short of labelling the alleged arson a terror attack.

“We’re not ruling anything in or out,” Murray said, acknowledging that he was “personally worried” about the rise in antisemitic attacks.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to condemn the attack as antisemitic.

“This violence and intimidation at a place of worship is an outrage,” he said in a statement. “This attack has risked lives and is clearly aimed at creating fear in the community.”

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has exacerbated tension between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine groups in Australia, leading Albanese’s government to appoint a Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and a Special Envoy on Social Cohesion.

Jewish communities across Australia have called out a drastic increase in antisemitic attacks and behaviour since the war began on October 7, 2023.

Since then, the government has spent 25 million Australian dollars ($16 million) on increased safety and security at Jewish sites across the country and has introduced other measures to target religious hate crime.

CNN/ Shakirat Sadiq

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