Josh Frydenberg demands Anthony Albanese call synagogue firebombing act of terrorism
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg says government inaction has “emboldened those who hate and those who harm”, calling for a protest permit system to be introduced in Victoria.
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Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has delivered a list of demands for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the wake of a firebombing attack at the Adass Israel Synagogue.
Mr Frydenberg labelled Mr Albanese a missing leader and said the clock was ticking for him to take action.
He also said Premier Jacinta Allan did not get a “pass” for what had taken place.
“I want to see the Premier lean in, I want to see the Prime Minister step up, I don’t want to see either of them step back,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg said government inaction in tackling anti-Semitism had directly led to the firebombing of the synagogue.
“Their action, or lack thereof to date, has emboldened those who hate and those who harm and this is just the latest in a series of unacceptable incidents that have occurred in our country targeting the Jewish community,” he said.
“Our leaders still don’t get it – they’re more than recklessly indifferent.
“They’ve created a very dangerous climate, and that has obviously culminated in the firebombing just a couple of days ago.”
Mr Frydenberg also called for the introduction of protest permits in Victoria, similar to the NSW system.
“In New South Wales there is a permit system for demonstrations of the kind that we’ve seen on a daily and weekly basis here, because they’ve been inciting violence,” he said.
“And I also believe that the Victorian government should follow the path that the premier of New South Wales has begun on to actually restrict and prevent demonstrations that take place outside houses of worship, whether it’s a synagogue, whether it’s a church or whether it’s a mosque, these need to be safe place and not places where the activists, where the extremeists are demonstrating.”
It comes as Mr Albanese is facing mounting pressure to declare Friday’s firebombing at the synagogue an act of terrorism, with Mr Frydenberg and former Senator Nova Peris adding to those calls.
“Nova Peris and I stand before you, Christian and Jew, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, former Labor senator, former Liberal minister but most importantly of all, we are both Australian and we are both outraged by the firebombing of the Adass synagogue here in Melbourne yesterday,” Mr Frydenberg said, in a rare address to the media since stepping away from politics.
“Make no mistake, that was an act of anti-Semitism, that was an act of terrorism and it was not an attack on one, it was an attack on all Australians, because as a result of that terrorist attack yesterday we are all less safe.”
Mr Frydenberg penned a letter to Mr Albanese on Saturday following the “long list of anti-Semitic attacks that has occurred under the Prime Minister’s watch” since October 7.
“If the Prime Minister does not take up this challenge, does not respond to the crisis we face, then what hope do all of us as humble citizens have of affecting equal change if the Prime Minister does not take it upon himself to affect that change,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“He and his government need to declare yesterday’s attack a terrorism event. There was a firebombing at a place of worship with people inside who were injured as a result.”
Mr Frydenberg also demanded Mr Albanese create a national police taskforce to curb anti-Semitism.
He also urged the Prime Minister to launch a judicial inquiry into Australian education institutions, expressing how both Jewish and non-Jewish students were feeling unsafe.
“Anti-Semitism is running wild in our education institutions. They should be houses of learning but they have become hotbeds of hate,” he said.
“The government has done nothing, it needs to use its influence, its levers, to pressure the universities to actually enforce their own by-laws on campus.
Mr Frydenberg also launched a scathing attack on Mr Albanese, describing him as a leader who has gone missing.
“The Prime Minister doesn’t speak out with any conviction, with any clarity, with any courage against the misuse of (anti-Semitic) terminology,” he said.
“If there’s a fence to sit on he finds it or gives us mealy-mouthed words that give us nothing.
“We are on a downward spiral and it’s going fast and so the Prime Minister has to act.
“We can’t hear worthless words, we have to see concrete action and right now that action isn’t here.”
Former Senator Nova Peris was among hundreds of people locked down in the Great Synagogue in Sydney earlier this week after pro-Palestine protesters made it unsafe to leave.
Ms Peris apologised to the Jewish community for “all they have endured in this country in the past 13 months” and described Friday’s firebombing as “totally deplorable”.
“In this country, we have a constitution which says every Australian has the right to religious freedom. How dare anyone attack a place of worship in this country,” she said.
“I cannot stand the hatred against Jewish people in this country, so we stand here together as Australians, a former Liberal person, a former Labor senator, but we both stand here together united as Australians.”
Ms Peris also expressed her disgust with how Australia was being portrayed to the rest of the world and called on Mr Albanese to take action to bring social harmony and unity.
“If you can attack one worship place here in Australia, what is next … it breaks my heart to see the Holocaust survivors’ descendants who have said ‘never again is never again’,” she said.
“As a Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese you have a duty of care to keep all Australians safe.
“Enough is enough ... what we saw yesterday is absolutely disgusting and I urge all Australians to stand up for the Jewish community.
“It’s madness there are no consequences for the attacks of racial hatred on Jewish people in this country.”
Mr Frydenberg said members of the wider Jewish community were “fearful” of a repeat attack following the events on Friday.
“They feel alone,” he added.
“They feel vulnerable and they feel despondent about the lack of action from those whose duty, whose elected responsibility, (it) is to act.”
He called on Mr Albanese to avoid the political game when considering the safety of Jewish Australians and the Australian community more generally.
“You might be worried about the electoral consequences in a particular electorate from taking strong action,” he said.
“But that is not your primary purpose.
“Your primary purpose, Prime Minister, is to keep Australians safe — and right now they feel unsafe.
“This is not a Jewish community problem alone, this is Australia’s problem. That attack we saw on the Adass Israel Synagogue is an attack on Australian values.
“It is unacceptable and yet it’s occurring in Australia on the Prime Minister’s watch.”
Jewish community attend Shabbat services day after firebombing
It comes as Jewish community members attended Shabbat services at their local temples a day after the attackon one of Australia’s busiest synagogues, which sparked condemnation from world figures, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At the St Kilda Hewbrew Congregation, it was a sombre Saturday morning as community members arrived at the temple for the 9am Shabbat service.
Several security guards from the Victoria Community Security Group lined the entrance to the synagogue, telling the Saturday Herald Sun regular security measures were in place across Melbourne.
The CSG offers security guidance and training to Jewish institutions, schools and synagogues year round, as well as providing community leadership and managing capability within community organisations to combat anti-Semitism.
Similar scenes were observed outside various temples in Melbourne’s southeast, including the Sassoon Yehuda Sephardi Synagogue in Balaclava and the Beit HaMashiach Messianic Congregation in Caulfield South.
MP Melissa Horne called out those behind the alleged arson attack in Ripponlea, adding the government “wholeheartedly” condemned the attack.
“What happened the night before was a vicious attack on a community,” Ms Horne said.
“It was a vicious attack on a community who have were predominantly post World War Two Hungarian survivors, who have come here and have built their home.
“They are a deeply religious community who also have the synagogue at the heart of their community and the Victorian government wholeheartedly condemns this abhorrent act of violence.”
I am unwilling and unable to comment further regarding the police investigation into the matter, Ms Horne said it was hard not to see the events as an “anti-Semitic act of violence.”
She said the government would continue to promote anti-vilification and social cohesion in the midst of rising tensions within the Victorian community.
“The distress that we’re seeing across all of Victoria with the horrific acts that are coming out of the Middle East has been that fragmentation and a level of despair in our community,” she added.
On Saturday, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim urged Mr Netanyahu not to judge Australians by the actions of the Albanese government.
“Australia is so much more than the government of the day,” he said.
Mr Wertheim said the community had been “overwhelmed” with messages of support for Israel from across Australia by people who “share our view that the government is wrong on this issue”.
“The people of Australia love freedom and democracy as much as Israelis do, and should always be regarded as a key ally by Israel even when the government lets us down,” he said.
A fundraiser to rebuild the Adass Israel synagogue raised more than $349,000 as off Monday morning.
Originally published as Josh Frydenberg demands Anthony Albanese call synagogue firebombing act of terrorism
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