Authorities have confirmed that Friday’s burning of a Melbourne synagogue is being investigated as an act of terrorism, while high-profile Jewish human rights groups have issued travel warnings for Australia.
On Friday, a fire destroyed the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, in Melbourne’s south-east. Witnesses have said they saw masked figures spreading what appeared to be an accelerant in the building, before setting it on fire.
Victorian police are hunting for three suspects over the early-morning blaze, and have said there’s no evidence that further antisemitic attacks are planned, but that patrols are being increased as a precaution.
The decision to label the arson attack as a terror attack was made on Monday morning after a meeting of the Victorian Joint Counter-terrorism Team, which includes Victoria Police, the AFP and ASIO.
At a press conference on Monday, AFP Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett announced that the attack was “now a terrorism investigation” and that the joint team of investigators is “already well-prepared, well-briefed and well-progressed”.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said “significant progress” had been made over the weekend and police investigating the “callous and horrific” attack were focused on three suspects.
Patton also said that the authorities would need to keep certain information private as not to “jeopardise the investigation”.
“While I understand there will be a thirst for that information… it would potentially prejudice the investigation,” Patton said.
“When you have a crime like this that strikes at the fabric of the community, that is very, very concerning to us.
On Tuesday, a Jewish human rights group, the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, issued a travel alert warning against travel to Australia in the wake of the Melbourne synagogue attack.
“We are not convinced that Jews are safe as the authorities have failed to take necessary measures to protect Jewish communities from increasingly belligerent and violent targeting by islamists and other extremists,” the Centre said.
The centre’s associate dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper wrote to Australia’s ambassador in the US, Kevin Rudd, informing him about the travel advice for Jewish people.
“The Simon Wiesenthal Center is outraged that our fellow Jews in Australia are being targeted by hate crimes, culminating in a dire escalation–terrorist firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne that injured Jews at prayer and destroyed a place of prayer and an area used for communal events,” the letter said.
This is the first time the Centre has issued an advisory against Australia, and it follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s announcement, this week, of a new taskforce to tackle antisemitism.