Australian police said on Friday they were looking for two people suspected of setting fire to a synagogue in Melbourne, injuring one person and causing extensive damage.
The fire started early Friday morning at the Addas Israel Synagogue and police said the suspects were wearing masks.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack, saying anti-Semitism had no place in Australia.
“This violence, intimidation and destruction of places of worship is an outrage. This attack has put lives at risk and is clearly intended to instill fear in the community,” he said in a statement.
Counter-terrorism police will liaise with Victoria state police on the investigation, Albanese said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deplored the “heinous anti-Semitic incident”, and accused the Albanian government of encouraging such crimes by adopting anti-Israeli policies, including supporting a recent UN resolution in favor of a Palestinian state.
“Unfortunately, this criminal act cannot be separated from the anti-Israel sentiments that flow from the Australian Labor government,” Netanyahu wrote in X. “Anti-Israel is anti-Semitism,” he said.
Melbourne Synagogue Built by Holocaust Survivors
Victoria state police said a worshiper at a synagogue for morning prayers saw two men before setting fire to the building.
“We believe it was intentional. We believe it was targeted. We don’t know why and we will find out why,” Detective Inspector Chris Murray told reporters.
Dozens of firefighters and trucks battled the blaze at a synagogue built in the 1960s by Holocaust survivors in the suburb of Ripponalia.
“Something hit the door with some liquid thrown in and burned, some people inside the synagogue ran out the back door, one of them was burned,” Adas Israel Synagogue board member Benjamin Klein told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“The whole place soon lit up.”
Television footage showed firefighters at the scene and blackened walls, with congregants carrying Torah scrolls and prayer shawls that had fled the flames in cars.
The Australian Jewish Federation said it was “outraged but not surprised” by the attack and said the Jewish community felt abandoned under the current government.
Albanese’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union’s statement.
Australia has seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents since Israel retaliated for an October 7, 2023 attack on Gaza by the terrorist Palestinian group Hamas that killed tens of thousands of people.
Major Australian cities have seen dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the past year and the Jewish community says the government is not doing enough to tackle the rise in anti-Semitism.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Sydney’s Great Synagogue on Wednesday while some members of the Jewish community were inside, Australian media reported.