Counter Terrorism Command will join the investigation into the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue that has been widely condemned as an act of antisemitism.
Members of the Adass Israel congregation were forced to flee in the early hours on Friday as fire engulfed the synagogue in Ripponlea, following the arson attack by two masked suspects who remain at large.
The men were pouring liquid on the floor when they were disturbed by a congregant who was attending the Glen Eira Avenue synagogue, police said, prompting the suspects to flee.
On Friday, police scrambled to increase security at synagogues across the city through the weekend.
Yumi Friedman, founder of the popular business Yumi’s dips, said he was one of those inside the synagogue when the attack happened.
He said he heard a sudden bang – like a sledgehammer on the door – and ran to his nearby shop, where a staff member called the police. When he returned to the synagogue, he found a small fire inside.
“So I thought maybe I’ll be able to open the doors and go inside, but when I touched the door, I burnt my hand,” Friedman said.
“Before you knew it, [the fire] had spread and was totally out of control.”
Another man who was at the synagogue when the attack happened was not injured, police said.
Images obtained by this masthead show extensive damage inside the synagogue. The blaze gutted the building, leaving charred ruins, a tangle of wiring and a collapsed roof.
After the blaze, members of the congregation rushed to salvage items including a trove of holy books and precious Torah scrolls.
They formed a line, passing along artefacts and personal items – tallits (prayer shawls) and tefillin (phylacteries worn on the arm and head during prayer) – out of the blackened building. Members carefully loaded them into a car, kissing them as is customary when touching a Torah scroll.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was briefed on the incident by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw, described the attack as “an outrage”.
“By definition, this is an act of hate, and it’s something that should not occur in Australia or anywhere else for that matter,” he said. “People must be allowed to conduct their faith as they see fit, in a peaceful way.”
Albanese said he wasn’t worried about “getting ahead” of the investigation by labelling it antisemitism, saying that “an attack on a synagogue is an act of antisemitism by definition”.
Peter Khalil, the federal government’s special envoy for social cohesion, said attacks based on a person’s ethnicity or faith or on places of worship were utterly unacceptable.
“They are an attack on all of us,” he said. “Places of worship like synagogues are places of peace, faith, learning and community. All of us must continually call out any hatred and violence every time they occur.”
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the attack was predictable given the rise of antisemitism across Australia following the attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7 last year and Israel’s subsequent bombing of Gaza.
“Everybody knew that antisemitism, that hatred and that vilification, that racism, was lurking beneath the surface,” Dutton said.
“But what we’ve seen on our university campuses, what we’ve seen online, what we’ve seen against people of Jewish faith in the community has been completely and utterly unacceptable, and it should be totally condemned in our country.”
