Melbourne Suffers a Second 'Act of Hate'

An arsonist set fire to the door of a Melbourne synagogue and forced the congregation to flee on Friday, seven months after criminals destroyed a synagogue in the same Australian city with an accelerant-fueled blaze that left a worshipper injured. A man doused the double front doors of the downtown East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and set it alight around 8pm, a police statement said on Saturday. Around 20 worshippers sharing a meal to mark the Shabbat Jewish day of rest evacuated through a rear door and no one was injured, reports the AP. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which was contained to the front entrance, police said. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said both incidents were designed to "traumatize Jewish families." "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 antisemitism," she said in a statement.

• A trend since 2023: A wave of antisemitic attacks has roiled Australia since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. Jewish and Muslim organizations and hate researchers have recorded drastic spikes in hate-fueled incidents on both groups. The Australian government last year appointed special envoys to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. Last December, two masked men struck the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne's southeast. They caused extensive damage by spreading a liquid accelerant with brooms throughout the building before igniting it.
• Synagogue attack 'serious' but not 'terrorist: "I'd like to make it very clear that we do recognize that these crimes are disgusting and abhorrent. But at this stage, we are not declaring this a terrorist incident," Acting Victoria Police Commander Zorka Dunstan told reporters. "In the course of our investigation, we will examine the intent and the ideology of the persons involved, or person, to determine if this is in fact terrorism," she added. A terrorism declaration opens the investigation to more resources and can result in longer prison sentences.
• Protesters come out: Also in Melbourne on Friday night, around 20 masked protesters harassed diners in an Israeli-owned restaurant, chanting "Death to the IDF," referring to the Israel Defense Forces. A restaurant window was broken. A 28-year-old woman was arrested for hindering police. "Melbourne, for one night, stopped being a safe place for Jews," Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said.