Netanyahu blames Labor over synagogue fire

The Australian Government’s support for a UN resolution calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of Gaza is to blame for a widely condemned arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, the Jewish state’s prime minister says.

It is impossible to separate the reprehensible arson attack from the federal government’s “extreme anti-Israeli position,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on social media early on Saturday.

“Including the scandalous decision to support the UN 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,” he wrote on X.

“The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an abhorrent act of antisemitism,” he said.

The Adass Israel synagogue at Rippon Lea in Melbourne’s southeast had two of its three buildings gutted after suspected masked intruders allegedly broke into the building and set it alight in the early hours of Friday.

Two congregants preparing for morning prayers, were inside. They were evacuated, with one sustaining minor injuries.

Police have not ruled out terrorism as a motive, believing the attack was targeted.

The suspects had poured accelerant on the floor inside the synagogue and set it on fire before fleeing when they were disturbed by a congregant, police said.

Israel President Isaac Herzog said he firmly condemned the horrific arson amid an intolerable wave of attacks on Jewish communities when he spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday night.

“I noted to the prime minister 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,” he said.

“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.”

Political and religious leaders have widely condemned the attack on the synagogue, built by Holocaust survivors.

Mr Albanese said he had no tolerance for antisemitism.

“This deliberate, unlawful attack goes against everything we are as Australians and everything we have worked so hard to build as a nation,” he said in a statement.

Australian Federal Police will provide all requested resources to Victorian authorities, he said.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said police patrols would be increased, and pledged $100,000 to rebuilding the synagogue.