Rupert Murdoch visits firebombed Melbourne synagogue

Rupert Murdoch has visited the Adass Israel synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea, six days after it was firebombed in what is being investigated as a terrorist attack.

He visited alongside his wife, Elena Zhukova, shortly after making an appearance at News Corp’s Melbourne headquarters, where he met former colleagues and executives. It was the first time he has been seen in public since losing his bid to shift the terms of his family trust.

Rupert Murdoch visits the burnt-out Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea with synagogue board member Benjamin Klein. Photo: Supplied

Murdoch was joined by Adass Israel community members at the damaged synagogue and long-time News Corp columnist and TV host Andrew Bolt.

Murdoch, who is making his first visit to Australia in six years, spent several hours at News Corp’s Melbourne offices on Thursday after arriving in Australia last week.

On Monday, a Nevada probate commissioner rejected his bid to alter his family trust and hand control of his global media assets in the event of his death to his eldest son, Lachlan, at the expense of his other children – James, Elisabeth and Prudence.

A News Corp spokesman declined to comment but Murdoch told his company’s news outlet The Australian that the attack was “evil” and that he was “deeply moved” by the visit to the synagogue.

Rupert Murdoch is seen leaving the Herald Sun building in Melbourne on Thursday with his wife Elena Zhukova.Credit: The Age/Luis Enrique Ascui

“We felt it was important to pay our respects and show solidarity with the Jewish community after such an appalling terror attack on a place of worship. To think such an evil act can happen in the suburbs of Melbourne is extremely disturbing,” he said.

Victorian Rabbinical Council president Rabbi Moshe Kahn said Murdoch spent about 30 minutes meeting with the Jewish leaders and touring the synagogue.

“I thought it was incredible,” Kahn said. “It was a really important statement. Even though he’s 93 years old, he took the time to come down and see what happened. He really took a genuine interest. It was deeply heartening.”

Rupert Murdoch leaves News Corp’s Melbourne offices alongside Sky News’ Andrew Bolt.Credit: Calum Jaspan

Murdoch met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other high-profile guests at Lachlan’s annual Christmas party in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill last week.

Albanese then told cabinet colleagues that Murdoch’s media empire was openly working to back Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. The comments followed sustained negative coverage of Albanese’s handling of antisemitism, among other issues, in News Corp titles.

News Corp staff were informed of Murdoch’s visit to The Herald and Weekly Times Southbank building on Thursday. Murdoch was born in Melbourne in 1931 and educated at Geelong Grammar.

During his visit, Murdoch met former News Corp Australia chief executive Julian Clarke, as well as recently departed columnist Terry McCrann, who was spotted arriving at lunchtime and leaving with a framed and signed cartoon several hours later.

McCrann was lured from The Age in 1987 to join the Melbourne Herald through a series of covert park bench meetings in Treasury Gardens. He stayed at the paper for nearly four decades until his formal departure this year.

Murdoch departed the building in a Range Rover alongside Sky News presenter and Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt. His niece, Herald and Weekly Times chair Penny Fowler, was accompanying the group as it left the building.

On Monday, The New York Times revealed that Rupert Murdoch had lost his bid to amend the terms of an irrevocable family trust that would have handed Lachlan total control over the family’s empire.

Nevada probate commissioner Edmund Gorman Jr deemed Murdoch’s move to have been in “bad faith”, the Times reported.

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