Read President of Israel Isaac Herzog’s stern words to Anthony Albanese after Melbourne synagogue attack
The President of Israel has told Australia’s Prime Minister ‘firm and strong’ action is required after a Victorian synagogue was firebombed early Friday morning.
President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with Anthony Albanese on Friday night and strongly condemned the ‘horrific’ attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne.
Police are still hunting the two masked arsonists who allegedly broke in, poured accelerant and set the synagogue alight at around 4am while worshippers were congregating for prayers. The fire gutted two of its three buildings and left two people with minor injuries.
Mr Albanese said the joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force was looking into the blaze, which follows Australia splitting with the United States at a recent UN vote to demand the end of Israel’s ‘unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible’.
President Herzog said these kinds of attacks were ‘intolerable’.
‘I spoke now with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and expressed my firm condemnation of the horrific arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue,’ he wrote on X.
‘Following the atrocities carried out by Hamas against Israel on and since October 7, 2023, there has been an intolerable wave of attacks on Jewish communities in Australia and around the world.
‘I noted to the Prime Minister that this rise and the increasingly serious antisemitic attacks on the Jewish community required firm and strong action, and that this was a message that must be heard clearly from Australia’s leaders.’
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday where he condemned the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne
Two masked men who are still at large allegedly set fire to the building around 4am Friday morning as worshippers congregated for prayer
President Herzog said these kinds of attacks have no place in society and said he trusts the Victorian authorities to find those responsible
President Herzog also thanked Mr Albanese and said he trusted local authorities to find those responsible for the attack.
‘I thanked [Mr Albanese] for his ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism, and expressed my trust that the local law enforcement would do everything in their power to bring the perpetrators to justice,’ President Herzog wrote.
Other political and religious leaders have also joined in the unanimous condemnation of the synagogue, which was one of Melbourne’s largest and had been built by Holocaust survivors, as security is beefed up around Jewish communities.
The Jewish community has lived in fear for the past 14 months, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said.
‘This for us is just evidence of that fear,’ he said.
‘This is a tragic day for the Australian Jewish community.’
Victorian senator James Paterson said police and the government needed to boost security to reassure worshippers.
‘There will be other shuls and synagogues in the area tonight contemplating Friday night prayers and wondering whether they’re safe to do so,’ he said.
The fire gutted two of its three buildings and left two people with minor injuries
The Adass Israel synagogue is one of Melbourne’s largest and had been originally built by Holocaust survivors
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed police patrols would be increased from Friday into next week, as she pledged $100,000 towards rebuilding the synagogue.
‘This is a place of worship that was built by Holocaust survivors who fled that most evil regime in Europe and chose Melbourne as their home,’ she told reporters on Friday afternoon.
‘An attack on a place of worship is an attack on all faiths.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese echoed the premier’s sentiment, saying ‘to attack a synagogue is an act of anti-Semitism’.
He confirmed he had spoken with the head of the Australian Federal Police about ensuring all resources requested were available for the Victoria Police investigation.
Mr Albanese said in an earlier statement that he has ‘zero tolerance for antisemitism’ in Australia and that the AFP and the Commonwealth would be providing assistance in Victoria’s investigation.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said the ‘outrageous’ attack served as a chilling reminder anti-Semitism was not a relic of the past.
”Never again’ has become a hollow promise as the very evils it sought to prevent are happening once more,’ he said.
Mr Albanese had previously condemned the attack in a statement of his own earlier in the morning
Religious organisations, including the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, decried the ‘disturbing’ incident and shared their sympathies with the Jewish community.
‘There is absolutely no justification for such acts of aggression against any community, regardless of the circumstances,’ president Rateb Jneid said.
Human rights commissioners condemned the attack ‘in the strongest possible terms’.
‘We are deeply concerned that this destructive and violent act will cause fear and intimidation and exacerbate trauma for the Jewish community,’ Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman said.
Officers were told two men were inside the synagogue where the masked assailants poured liquid on the floor.
Police believe the attack was targeted and renewed an appeal for information.
Detective Inspector Chris Murray said police were not ruling out terrorism as a motive, as they search for the suspected arsonists.
‘We are throwing everything at this,’ he told reporters outside the synagogue on Friday.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allen vowed to increase police patrols from Friday into next week and pledged $100,000 towards the synagogue’s rebuild
Founder of Yumi’s dips, Yumi Friedman, was inside and described a ‘big bang on the door with a sledgehammer’, before he fled to call help.
He returned to find the synagogue was fully alight.
‘I touched the door, it was hot and I burnt my hand so I didn’t go inside,’ he told AAP.
Fellow congregant Ruvi Herzogtold told AAP: ‘It’s devastating, right to the heart of the community, to go and to know that you’re not safe.’
Glen Eira is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Victoria with 25,585 people, according to state government data.
