Police searching for three suspects in Melbourne synagogue ‘terror attack’

Police in Melbourne are searching for three suspects in connection with the torching of the Addas Israel synagogue on Friday, according to Victoria police chief commissioner Shane Patton, who told reporters on Monday that the arson was being treated as a terrorist attack.

While he said "significant progress" had already been made in the investigation, he declined to provide further details.

No one was hurt in the fire, but the synagogue was heavily damaged.

Victoria state premier Jacinta Allen said on Monday that the “evil, antisemitic attack ... has now been declared a terror attack,” noting that “additional resources” could therefore be diverted to the probe.

Mask-wearing assailants on Friday set ablaze the Orthodox synagogue in Ripponlea, a suburb of Melbourne.

Also on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the creation of a federal police taskforce to combat antisemitism, which will be deployed across the country to tackle threats, violence and hatred toward the Jewish community and parliamentarians.

"Antisemitism is a major threat and antisemitism has been on the rise," said Albanese.

Albanese, whose left-wing Labor government has been accused of pursuing anti-Israel policies, declined to address claims by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, that these positions had helped ignite the attack.

Asked about these allegations, Albanese said during an interview on Sunday: “Well, that is a matter for Mr. Netanyahu, but can I make this point very clearly, that 157 countries supported the resolution that was passed by the United Nations.”

Albanese was referencing a vote at the U.N. General Assembly that called on Israel to “bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible.” Australia has traditionally opposed or abstained from voting on resolutions employing such language.

On Friday, Netanyahu suggested that the torching of the synagogue was inextricably linked to the Labor government in Canberra’s “extreme anti-Israelism.”

“Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia, including the scandalous decision to support the U.N. resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible,’ and preventing a former Israeli minister from entering the country.

“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism,” Netanyahu said.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Albanese, during which the former expressed his “firm condemnation” of the arson attack.

“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,” said Herzog.

“I noted to the Prime Minister [Albanese] 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. I thanked him 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,” added the president.