Counterterrorism police probe Melbourne synagogue firebombing

Counterterrorism detectives are investigating a firebombing at a Melbourne synagogue, and police presence will be ramped up at a pro-Palestine rally on Sunday after multiple antisemitic attacks on Friday night.

Victoria Police confirmed counterterrorism command was leading the investigation into Friday night’s arson attack at the East Melbourne Synagogue, but it had not been declared an act of terrorism.

Police urge anyone who recognises the man or has information to contact Crime Stoppers.Credit: Victoria Police

Also on Friday night, a group of about 20 people, some masked and wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, entered Israeli restaurant Miznon and shouted offensive chants, scuffled with staff and knocked over tables to the alarm of patrons, before police arrived and arrested one man.

Police are also investigating a third incident, where three cars were set on fire and the wall of a business in Melbourne’s north-east was spray-painted with graffiti against the Israeli military about 4.30am on Saturday.

Police have released an image of a man they wish to speak to over the incident at the East Melbourne Synagogue, as the prime minister, premier and an Israeli minister condemned the attacks on Saturday.

Police said a man – described as Caucasian and in his 30s, with a beard and long hair – was seen walking through Parliament Gardens before entering the grounds of the synagogue on Albert Street about 8pm. They allege he poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing on foot west along Albert Street.

About 20 people, including children, were having a Shabbat dinner just metres away inside the place of worship at the time.

Rabbi Dovid Gutnick at the charred door of the East Melbourne Synagogue on Saturday morning.Credit: Aaron Francis

Vision from the Miznon incident shows diners screaming in fear inside the Hardware Lane restaurant, which is part-owned by an Israeli entrepreneur who has been promoting a controversial aid group in Gaza.

No one was injured in any of the incidents and none have been deemed terrorism, but Victoria Police Commander Zorka Dunstan said on Saturday officers would investigate the motives of those involved.

“The investigation is under the security investigation unit, who is part of our counterterrorism command. The security investigation unit investigates matters of communal violence,” Dunstan said.

Victoria Police Commander Zorka Dunstan on Saturday.Credit: Penny Stephens

“We do recognise that these crimes are disgusting and abhorrent, but at this stage, we are not declaring this a terrorist incident. 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.”

However, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel described the attacks as terrorism.

“Targeting Jewish houses of worship and an Israeli restaurant is terrorism, aimed at intimidating an entire community simply because of their religion and identity,” she said.

Haskel said the attacks “are yet another reminder of how far racist, antisemitic hate crimes have spread in the heart of Australia” and expressed solidarity with Melbourne’s Jewish community.

“These attacks are not just assaults on Jews or Israelis — they are assaults on Australian values of tolerance, diversity and freedom.”

Dunstan said the three incidents all had “inferences of antisemitism” or anti-Israel protest activity, but investigators had yet to find a connection between them.

The vandalised business, Lovitt Technologies Australia, on Para Road in Greensborough, is a weapons company with links to Israel and had previously been targeted by protesters opposing the Israeli military. The business was contacted for comment.

In the synagogue attack, it was unclear whether the offender knew anyone was inside the building at the time, Dunstan said. “At this stage, we believe it’s just one person involved, but we’re not discounting there might be more. So we’re just canvassing for the CCTV to see what we can identify.

“We are taking all three incidents incredibly seriously. There’s no place in Australia for hatred or discrimination of any kind, and we condemn it.”

A damaged car on Saturday and evidence of old graffiti on a wall at Lovitt Technologies Australia in Greensborough.Credit: Aaron Francis

Police officers were providing proactive patrols in the areas around the attacks and supporting Melbourne’s broader Jewish community.

There would also be a significant police presence in the CBD on Sunday “in response to multiple planned protests”, a Victoria Police spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan both condemned the attacks on Saturday.

“Antisemitism has no place in Australia,” Albanese said. “Those responsible for these shocking acts must face the full force of the law, and my government will provide all necessary support toward this effort.”

The burnt doors seen from inside the East Melbourne Synagogue after the arson attack on Friday night.

Allan said: “This is disgraceful behaviour by a pack of cowards. That this happened on Shabbat makes it all the more abhorrent.”

Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Phillip Zajac said firefighters responded to the synagogue attack quickly and contained the fire, which caused only superficial damage to the bluestone building and heavy timber doors.

“Lighting a place of worship [on fire] is just dreadful,” Zajac said. “A place of worship has got nothing to do with the Middle East dispute. This has really gotten to me.”

About the same time on Friday night, police said a splinter group of about 20 people broke off from a larger anti-police protest in Melbourne’s CBD and walked to the Israeli restaurant on Hardware Lane, where they shouted offensive chants.

An independent photographer at the scene said the group asked patrons why they were giving money to the restaurant.

The group chanted “Death to the IDF” and “Miznon out of Melbourne”, the photographer said.

The aftermath at Miznon on Friday night.Credit: Alex Zucco

Pro-Palestine protesters have been calling for a boycott of Miznon after it emerged that one of its part-owners, Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, is also a spokesman for the controversial aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

This week, the Associated Press reported that American contractors were using live ammunition and stun grenades to guard Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution sites while hungry Palestinians scrambled for food.

Nina Sanadze, a Jewish gallery owner and friend of Miznon’s owners, went straight to the restaurant after receiving a call on Friday night.

When she arrived, police had blocked the street and Miznon staff were sweeping away broken glass and remnants of tomatoes thrown at the windows.

Sculptor Nina Sanadze with her installation Chiur, made of burnt chairs from the Ripponlea synagogue that was firebombed last year. Sanadze went to Miznon on Friday night after a group stormed the restaurant.Credit: Penny Stephens

Inside, Sanadze said, staff were “hugging, crying and shaking”. “It was a very, very scary experience.”

Sanadze said that when the group arrived, the restaurant’s managers tried to “step in and push the protesters out”, and directed customers to the back of the restaurant.

“It was hard for customers to do anything,” she said. “I think the brawl broke out because people were actually trying to stand up and say, ‘go away’.”

After closing the doors, Miznon managers apologised to their shaken staff for the ordeal and carried on with their usual Friday tradition of Shabbat, lighting candles, singing Jewish songs and eating Challah.

A Miznon staff member conducts prayer ritual before the restaurant opened on Saturday.Credit: Aaron Francis

“We were not in the mood to eat, it was more of a thing of tradition and resilience to stand together,” Sanadze said.

Sanadze emphasised that Miznon’s workers were a mix of nationalities and that the restaurant “has nothing to do with the [Israeli Defence Force] or anyone over there”.

On Saturday morning, detectives attended Miznon and spoke with one of the co-owners.

One staff member came out with a pan, burning sage and waving it around the outside of the restaurant. “Blessings to everyone,” he said. “Good energy.”

A 28-year-old person from Footscray was arrested “for hindering police and has been released on summons” over the restaurant incident, police said.

Dunstan said there was not enough evidence to arrest anyone else, but the identities of those involved had been recorded as investigations continued and police combed social media and CCTV footage.

The “death to the IDF” chant was also heard in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall during last Sunday’s regular anti-Israel protest, and shouted from the Glastonbury stage in the UK by band Bob Vylan in its controversial performance.

The attack follows the firebombing in December that gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea. Counterterrorism police later revealed that attack involved “criminals for hire” and a known underworld getaway car, but have yet to rule terrorism in or out. Dunstan did not have further information on that investigation.

The East Melbourne Synagogue, founded six years after Victoria was established as a colony, is known as the city shul and is the only Jewish place of worship in central Melbourne.

The front doors of the synagogue were locked at the time of the attack, which was after traditional Shabbat prayers.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece attended the synagogue on Friday night after he learnt of the attack. He described the fire and targeting of Jewish businesses in the city as despicable and racist.

“The criminal attacks on Jewish businesses in the CBD and the East Melbourne Synagogue are shocking and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “I am angry and dismayed that once again our community is confronted with the despicable and racist actions of a few people.

Rabbi Dovid Gutnick and Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece in East Melbourne on Saturday morning.Credit: Aaron Francis

“My thoughts are with the Jewish community, who are hurting deeply after these vile attacks.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the latest attacks were a return to “the antisemitic terror of the summer months” and “clear evidence that the antisemitism crisis is not only continuing, but getting worse”.

“Those who chant for death are not peace activists. Those who would burn houses of prayer with families inside do not seek an end to war.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said: “About 20 Victorians could have been murdered last night, and another Melbourne synagogue destroyed, had this terrorist attack not been stopped in its tracks.

“And just days after Glastonbury revellers were led to chant for death, their chant was repeated in Melbourne by a mob storming a restaurant much-loved by the Jewish community and many others.”

Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines said he had spoken to federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had approved the use of ASIO and Australian Federal Police resources to support Victoria Police investigating the arson attack in East Melbourne.

“The intimidation of violence that we saw at a restaurant in the CBD: let’s be really clear, this behaviour is totally unacceptable,” Carbines said.

Burke and Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly said the federal government was “committed to supporting improved security measures at places of worship”. Their statement did not detail what further measures were being considered.

Aly said she had spoken with Jillian Segal, the special envoy to combat antisemitism, about the need for a broader approach to educate people about bigotry faced by the Jewish community.

In a separate incident last month, vandals targeted a historic synagogue in South Yarra.

Graffiti on the synagogue in South Yarra last month.

Attackers used red paint to scrawl “Free Palestine” and “Iran is Da Bomb”, set inside the outline of a nuclear mushroom cloud, on the heritage-listed synagogue.

The latest attacks in Melbourne prompted the federal opposition to call on Albanese to increase security for the Jewish community.

With Mike Foley

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