Synagogue arson called 'an attack on Australia' by Burke as Israel's PM calls for action

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Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he is “glad” police quickly made an arrest over the arson at an East Melbourne synagogue as he condemned it as an “attack on Australia”.

Twenty congregants were forced to flee the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation on Friday night after a bearded man doused the building’s front door with flammable liquid before setting it alight.

He fled on foot, while firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, which was contained to the front entrance.

Victoria Police on Sunday said a NSW man was arrested in Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday about 8.15pm and charged with multiple offences, including reckless conduct endangering life, criminal damage by fire and possession of a controlled weapon.

The 34-year-old appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Sunday, where the court was told it was his first time in custody.

He was remanded until a hearing on 22 July.

Detectives will investigate the accused man’s intent and ideology to determine if the incident was an act of terrorism.

Speaking to reporters outside the 150-year-old temple on Sunday, Burke said: “What we see in the door that’s behind me is an attack on Australia.”

“That’s what it is,” he said.

“When people have said … that no one was physically injured, that doesn’t mean no one was harmed. The community here was harmed. The Jewish community in Australia was harmed, and we were harmed as a nation.”

The attack came on the same night as another incident where protesters allegedly smashed a window, flipped tables and threw chairs outside Israeli restaurant Miznon in Melbourne’s CBD.

Damage is seen to the exterior of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne

Damage is seen to the exterior of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation. Source: AAP / James Ross

The group of protesters had splintered from a larger demonstration in the city before making their way to the restaurant in Hardware Lane, where they chanted “death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

A 28-year-old protester was arrested and released on summons for hindering police.

Miznon — which has venues across the world — is part owned by Shahar Segal. He is a spokesperson for the contentious Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), which has started distributing aid in the Palestinian enclave that has been under Israeli bombardment since the October 7 attack nearly two years ago.

Police on Saturday did not say whether the Miznon protesters were pro-Palestinian activists. But several pro-Palestinian groups shared a statement on social media saying Segal’s link to the GHF was the reason the restaurant had been chosen as a protest site.

In the statement, they denied the incident was linked to the synagogue arson, saying pro-Palestinian activists “have never attacked places of worship, and we condemn such attacks”.

Police escort Anti-Israeli protesters outside an Israeli restaurant Miznon

A group of protesters allegedly smashed a window, flipped tables and threw chairs outside Israeli restaurant Miznon in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday night. Source: AAP / Josh Stayner

Hours after the arson attack and protest, offenders spray-painted three cars and a wall outside a Greensborough business in Melbourne’s northeast before setting fire to the vehicles, destroying one and damaging two.

Police said there were “inferences of antisemitism” and the business had been “subjected to pro-Palestinian activity” in the past 12 months.

Burke said on Sunday that authorities had not yet drawn any links between the three incidents.

But, he said, there was a “link in antisemitism, a link in bigotry, a link in a willingness to either call for violence, to change violence, or to take out violent actions”.

“They are very much linked in that way,” Burke said. “But at this stage, the authorities are still are still investigating whether or not there is a more formal coordination.”

National Cabinet call, and condemnation

Speaking to the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Opposition frontbencher Melissa McIntosh called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to convene a National Cabinet meeting on antisemitism.

“Why isn’t he convening National Cabinet and bringing the states together with urgency to address this issue?” McIntosh asked.

“There’s a number of things the government could be doing, yet we’re sitting here today discussing a horrible attack.”

Asked whether he agreed, Burke did not answer directly but said what was needed was “unity, and constructively working together”.

Burke also said he had spoken with Israel’s ambassador to Australia yesterday, who he said had thanked him for his decision to visit the synagogue.

“He took it as a signal that the government was taking this very seriously,” Burke said.

Overnight, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog condemned the synagogue attack as “vile”, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the Australian government “take all action” to “prevent similar attacks in the future”.

“I view with utmost gravity the antisemitic attacks that occurred last night in Melbourne, which included attempted arson of a synagogue in the city and a violent assault against an Israeli restaurant by pro-Palestinian rioters,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

“The reprehensible antisemitic attacks, with calls of ‘Death to the IDF’ and an attempt to attack a place of worship, are severe hate crimes that must be uprooted.”

He said Israel would continue to “stand alongside the Australian Jewish community”.

The federal government has offered federal police and security and intelligence agency support to investigators.

“Those responsible for these shocking acts must face the full force of the law,” Albanese said.

The attacks come seven months after a blaze destroyed two buildings at the Adass Israel Synagogue in the city’s south and forced worshippers inside to flee.

No charges have been laid, although counterterrorism police have raided multiple properties as part of that investigation.

— With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.