Netanyahu points finger at Labor over synagogue firebombing
Labor’s ‘extreme anti-Israel position’ is to blame for the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and increasing anti-Semitism throughout Australia, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said in an extraordinary intervention.
Labor’s “extreme anti-Israel position” is to blame for the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and increasing anti-Semitism throughout Australia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in an extraordinary intervention.
Just days after his office told The Australian that the Albanese government’s shift towards supporting Palestinian interests at the UN would “invite terrorism”, the Prime Minister himself overnight said it was “impossible to seperate” the arson attack and the government’s positions.
Anthony Albanese has defended his record on tackling anti-Semitism, saying it “has been around for a long period of time”, after Jewish leaders, including former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, slammed his government for a lack of leadership following the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue.
The arson attack on the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, the most serious anti-Semitic attack in Australia since the 1990s, rattled and enraged the country’s Jewish community and triggered a chorus of condemnation amid fears other Jewish organisations and institutions may also be targeted.
After 15 months of a rolling anti-Semitism crisis that has engulfed the nation in the wake of the October 7 massacre, Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke to the Prime Minister and urged Australian leaders to combat anti-Jewish hate here and abroad.
But Mr Netanyahu went further overnight, in one of the most striking criticisms of an Australian government by a democratic world leader in decades.
“The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an abhorrent act of antisemitism. I expect the state authorities to use their full weight to prevent such antisemitic acts in the future,” Mr Netanyahu said on X.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia, 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.
“ Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism.”
Mr Netanyahu’s attack on the Albanese government brings the Israeli-Australian relationship to its lowest ebb since the founding of the modern Jewish State after World War Two.
Earlier, President Herzog implored Australian leaders to combat anti-Jewish hate here and abroad.
“I noted to the Prime Minister (Mr Albanese) 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,” Mr Herzog said on X.“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.”
Mr Frydenberg wrote a blistering letter to the Prime Minister after the attack, saying it was “the latest in a long list of dangerous anti-Semitic attacks that has occurred on your watch. Social cohesion has broken down. The Jewish community is living in fear. Anti-Semitism has been normalised. Prime Minister, how have you let it get to this? Responsibility rests at your door”.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten, a strong supporter of the Jewish community, said political leaders “on all sides” needed to lift their game.
“We’ve witnessed a rise of the horrific stain of anti-Semitism in our country out of the drains of history,” Mr Shorten told The Weekend Australian during a visit to the burnt-out synagogue. “The hostility to Israel has morphed into anti-Semitism and we need to call it out, political leaders on all sides need to be united and committed to demonstrate that Australia is better than this.”
Mr Albanese labelled the attack an “outrage” that should be unequivocally condemned.
“There is no place in Australia for an outrage such as this,” he said. “To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue is an act of anti-Semitism.”
But the Prime Minister defended the government’s record of action in addressing anti-Semitism in Australia since the October 7, 2023 attack.
“Anti-Semitism is something that has been around for a long period of time. Of course, anti-Semitism has been on the rise. We call it out wherever we see it,” he said.
The synagogue used by the Adass Jewish community in Melbourne’s southeast was attacked by two masked men at 4.10am on Friday while two Jewish men were inside praying.
“I was studying in the synagogue and (heard) a big bang on the door with a sledgehammer … then I heard another sledgehammer (hit) the glass and saw the glass flying,” Yumi Friedman said.
He said he raced out of the synagogue to his nearby shop to call police and when he returned the building was on fire. “Someone else said they saw two blokes with balaclavas on who had a gerry can of petrol. This synagogue was built by Holocaust survivors and this just brings back terrible memories.”
The synagogue, one of the busiest in Australia, was a sanctuary for the large number of Holocaust survivors, including many from Hungary, and their relatives living in Melbourne’s southeast. Sacred items and centuries-old religious texts and handwritten Torah scrolls used by the deeply religious Adass scholars were burnt in the fire.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin accused the government of a lack of leadership, which he said has led a community of decent Australians to wonder if they have a place in this country.
“I urge our Prime Minister and our government to contemplate and reflect on how it has come to this. How under their leadership a house of prayer has been burnt,” Mr Ryvchin said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton voiced sorrow and anger, describing the attack as “absolutely abhorrent”. He warned of the rising tide of anti-Semitism since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, declaring: “Everybody knew that hatred and vilification were lurking beneath the surface.
“What we’ve seen on our university campuses, what we’ve seen online, what we’ve seen against people of Jewish faith in the community has been completely and utterly unacceptable.”
Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan was heckled by Jewish community members as she visited the synagogue to pledge $100,000 to help rebuild the attack, which she called “evil” and “anti-Semitic”.
Frustrated community members accused her of failing to address rising anti-Semitism, yelling “shame on Jacinta”, forcing her to end her press conference.
Police said they were hunting two offenders who wore black clothing and face coverings during the attack.
Victorian arson squad Detective Inspector Chris Murray said the fire was “deliberately lit” and the suspects were seen “spreading an accelerant of some type inside the premises” before it was engulfed in flames.
Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns compared the attack on the synagogue, which is in his electorate, to the anti-Semitic vandalisation of his office in June, saying those responsible must face the “full force of law”.
“I think this sort of attack – like what happened at my office – is so unfamiliar with the Australia that I grew up with,” he said. “Whoever is doing this is acting contrary to the multicultural and harmonious nature of our society. They need the full force of the law.”
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson visited the synagogue and urged the government to clamp down on anti-Semitism.
“I think many in the community rightly feel they have been let down, both by governments and in instances by police, because behaviour has been tolerated in the country over the last year that none of us ever thought should have,” Senator Paterson said.
“Peter Dutton and I have been saying for more than a year we want two things from the government. We want moral clarity about the crisis of anti-Semitism and the cancer that it poses to our society, and we want the law to be enforced.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive manager Joel Burnie said: “When racism like this goes practically unchecked, it is almost inevitable that escalations like this potentially murderous arson attack on a synagogue will occur. We urge all the relevant authorities to learn this lesson, and to take all possible steps to crack down on this malignant activity.”
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network branded the firebombing as a racist attack “rooted in anti-Semitism”.
“Attacks on religious institutions have no place in our community,” APAN said.
“Racist attacks rooted in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or anti-Palestinian racism must be opposed and condemned in equal measure. Our thoughts are with the Jewish community and all those impacted by these acts.”
Additional reporting: Paul Garvey
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