Sydney on high alert after Melbourne synagogue attack

Premier Chris Minns has blasted the Melbourne synagogue attack as “as an act of terrorism”, while a former treasurer has launched a scathing attack on the Albanese government.

Australia’s former treasurer has fired a scathing attack on the Albanese government’s “inaction” on growing antisemitism as Sydney was put on high-alert in the aftermath of a Melbourne.

Anti-semitic graffiti emerged in Sydney late on Friday -- hours after the Melbourne attack where worshippers fled the burning building and just two weeks after cars were marked with “F**k Israel” graffiti in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The violence prompted NSW Premier Chris Minns to visit a Sydney synagogue on Friday night to blast the attack as “as an act of terrorism” and to reassure the rattled Jewish community.

The nation’s rapidly deteriorating social cohesion saw Anthony Albanese under pressure to follow NSW and label the attack as “domestic terrorism” after one of his senior ministers hinted the same saying “it’s a synagogue that has got burnt, not a milk bar”.

Jewish-Australian and Morrison era treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in the early hours of Friday was “the latest in a long list of dangerous antisemitic attacks that has occurred on your watch” in a passionate open letter to Mr Albanese.

NSW Premier Chris Minns arriving at the Central Synagogue in Bondi. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Young Jews are now fearful to publicly identify with their faith while Holocaust survivors, long given a safe refuge and warm embrace here in Australia, now talk openly about leaving this country,” he said.

“Prime Minister, how have you let it get to this?”

Mr Frydenberg’s anger was mirrored by the head of Australia’s peak Jewish organisation, with Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief Alex Ryvchin calling on the Prime Minister to “reflect on how it has come to this”, labelling the devastating attack “entirely predictable”.

Liberal MP and Jewish Australian Julian Leeser also labelled the fire-bombing the Adass Israel Synagogue as an act of “terrorism”. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Ryvchin asked Mr Albanese how under his leadership “a house of prayer has been burned” and “decent Australians now question whether they have a place in this country.”

The domestic fallout of the Gaza war has fractured the Australian-Israeli relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming Australia’s recent shift in foreign policy meant it was no longer a “key” ally of the Jewish state.

The nation’s president Isaac Herzog called the most recent attack a “vile act of terror” before revealing he had spoken to Mr Albanese to express his “firm condemnation” of the incident.

Liberal MP and Jewish Australian Julian Leeser also labelled the attack an act of “terrorism” -- saying the authorities are failing Australia’s jewish community if they do not prosecute it as that.

Mr Leeser said the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue with worshippers inside was “a terrorist act” that met the definition of the crime according to Australian law.

“You’re not having a go at a corner store here, it’s a synagogue...to downplay it at this time when for more than a year we have seen the downplaying of antisemitism in this country (would be wrong),” he said.

“In my view this is a terrorist attack and the authorities aren’t doing their duty if they don’t prosecute it as that.

“Police are doing their work at the moment and we have to let them do that work but this is not just a crime, this is designed to intimidate.”

The Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne alight overnight. Picture: Supplied

The fire damage at the Adass Israel Synagogue as daylight arrived. Picture: AFP

Mr Albanese revealed earlier on Friday that counter terrorism police were involved in the investigation but stopped short of labelling it a terrorist attack while NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said it appeared to look like an act of “domestic terrorism”.

Mr Albanese unequivocally condemned the violence, calling it “clearly an act of antisemitism” and an “attack on Australian values”.

“There are definitions and the agencies examine those issues and certainly the Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force will be looking at this,” he said.

“Antisemitism is something that has been around for a long period of time, of course. Anti-Semitism has been on the rise, we call it however we see it”.

During a heated press conference, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said police had not ruled out that the act was domestic terrorism.

In Sydney, Premier Minns said NSW Police will be increasing patrols and high visibility taskings around key places.

“I am appalled to hear about the attack at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne last night,” he said.

Mr Minns said the act was designed as a “campaign of intimidation”.

Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism Jillian Segal welcomed Mr Albanese’s “unequivocal recognition and condemnation” of the attack but called on both state and federal government to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in legislation to educate Australians on what counts as antisemitism.

The IHRA definition has been heavily contested by Palestinian advocates who say it will prevent legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies.