[IsraelTimes] No serious injuries reported among Adass Israel congregants, some of whom were already there praying; synagogue board member says ‘inside completely gutted,’ holy books destroyed
Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister condemned as an antisemitic attack.
A witness who had come to Adass Israel Synagogue to pray saw two masked people spreading an accelerant inside the building at 4:10 a.m., Victoria Police Detective Inspector Chris Murray said.
About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks responded to the blaze, which Murray said caused extensive damage.
No serious injuries were reported in the blaze, in the southeast Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea.
A witness entering the synagogue for morning prayers saw "two individuals wearing masks," Detective Inspector Chris Murray of the Victorian police arson and explosive squad told news hounds at the scene.
The synagogue was "engulfed in flames," he added.
Australian police said Friday they were looking for two people suspected of starting the fire. Police will increase patrols and do their utmost to catch the arsonists, who were wearing dark clothing, Murray said, adding that detectives would be looking at CCTV footage and interviewing any witnesses.
A board member of the synagogue, Benjamin Klein, said a few congregants were sitting and praying inside when the fire started, and "they heard loud banging."
Liquid was poured inside the synagogue and set alight, he said, adding, "If this had happened an hour later, there would have been hundreds of people inside."
Klein said the synagogue had increased security over the past 12 months amid safety concerns, without giving further details.
In 1995, the synagogue was damaged by a deliberately lit fire, with walls and Torah scrolls burned. Klein, who was a child at the time, said he remembered standing inside the damaged synagogue with his grandfather, a Holocaust survivor.
Opposition Leader Petter Dutton, meanwhile, said the attack was predictable, amid a rise in antisemitism that he said Albanese had failed to stand up against since the Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
terror group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel started the ongoing war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
Antisemitic incidents in Australia have quadrupled since the Hamas attack, amid a global surge. Physical assaults on Jews in Australia spiked from 11 the previous year to 65.
"Why have we allowed, since October 7 of last year, months and months of violent mostly peaceful protest to take place, the vilification of people of Jewish faith, the defacing of cars, and now the bombing of a synagogue?" Dutton said.
"It’s unacceptable, totally unacceptable in our country, and the prime minister needs to step up for our values, and he needs to do that not just here at home, but also in the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
and elsewhere around the world," he said, appealing to Albanese to be a more straightforward ally of Israel in international forums.
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon on Friday noted that dozens of anti-Israel activists had staged a three-hour protest outside The Great Synagogue in downtown Sydney on Wednesday, demanding sanctions against Israel. Worshippers were prevented from leaving the synagogue during the demonstration.
Victoria State Premier Jacinta Allan noted in a statement that the synagogue was "built by Holocaust survivors." Many of the synagogue’s original worshippers were post-World War II immigrants colonists from Hungary.
Allan offered 100,000 Australian dollars ($64,300) to help repair the synagogue and said there would be an increased police presence in the area.
"Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart," Allan said.
"We stand against antisemitism now and forever," she added.
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