{"id":12695,"date":"2025-07-05T15:04:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T15:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=12695"},"modified":"2025-07-05T15:04:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T15:04:02","slug":"australia-condemns-synagogue-arson-as-anti-jewish-incidents-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=12695","title":{"rendered":"Australia condemns synagogue arson as anti-Jewish incidents rise"},"content":{"rendered":"
Australian authorities on Saturday condemned what they said was an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a spate of incidents against the nation’s Jewish community.<\/p>\n

The fire at the entrance to the synagogue in the east of Victoria’s state capital was sparked on Friday night, police said in a statement. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and there were no injuries to the 20 people inside.<\/p>\n

The attack, one of several recent antisemitic incidents in Australia, comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists who set a blaze that injured one and caused widespread damage.<\/p>\n

Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan on Saturday said it was “absolutely appalling” that a second Jewish synagogue had been attacked.<\/p>\n

“Any attack on a place of worship is an act of hate, and any attack on a Jewish place of worship is an act of anti-Semitism,” Allan said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Police said they believed the attack, in which flammable liquid was poured on the synagogue’s front door and set alight, was carried out by a male suspect. He has not been identified but is thought to be white and aged in his 30s.<\/p>\n

There is “no place in our society for antisemitic or hate-based behaviour,” police said.<\/p>\n

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews, said in a statement the fire was set as those inside sat down to Shabbat dinner.<\/p>\n

Authorities said they were probing if the attack was linked to an incident on Friday night at an inner-city restaurant in which one person was arrested for hindering police.<\/p>\n

The Israeli restaurant was extensively damaged in the incident, Ryvchin said.<\/p>\n

“These events are a severe escalation directed towards our community,” he said.<\/p>\n

Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.<\/p>\n

The incidents have included a fake plan set up by organised crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.<\/p>\n

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Australian authorities on Saturday condemned what they said was an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a spate of incidents against the nation’s Jewish community. The fire at the entrance to the synagogue in the east of Victoria’s state capital was sparked on Friday night, police said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}