Australian state to set up anti-hate task force after Melbourne synagogue arson
The task force, which would include the premier, state police minister, Melbourne mayor and the police, will gather for its first meeting this week, according to reports.
The announcement came after a synagogue in East Melbourne while 20 worshipers were inside was set fire on Friday night. The congregation escaped unharmed through a rear door, and firefighters managed to contain the blaze to the entrance area of the 148-year-old building.
Police over the weekend arrested and charged a 34-year-old man in connection with the alleged arson. His identity, however, has been withheld by the authorities.
The suspect was charged with offences including criminal damage by fire. Police said the man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door and set it on fire before fleeing.
'Detectives will continue to examine the intent and ideology of the person charged to determine if the incident is in fact terrorism,' police said.
"Just as the fire came to the front door here of this (synagogue), it was stopped. So too must we put a stop to antisemitism," Victoria state premier Jacinta Allan told reporters. "Not only does it have no place here in Melbourne and Victoria, it has no place anywhere."
She said the government is consulting experts while drafting a bill to ban face masks, display of terror symbols and devices used by protesters to attach themselves to objects that makes it difficult for police to remove them.
Ms Allan said the Jewish community representatives will be invited to attend the meeting of the anti-hate task force.
Recent months have seen an escalation of attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars of Jewish community members across the country, including the discovery of a caravan laden with explosives with a list of Jewish targets in Sydney. The rise in antisemitic incidents began following Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's war on Gaza in October 2023.
Mr Netanyahu, in a post on X, said: "I view with utmost gravity the antisemitic attacks that occurred last night in Melbourne, which included attempted arson of a synagogue in the city and a violent assault against an Israeli restaurant by pro-Palestinian rioters."
'The reprehensible antisemitic attacks, with calls of 'Death to the IDF' and an attempt to attack a place of worship, are severe hate crimes that must be uprooted.
Earlier in January, a home in Sydney previously owned by a senior Jewish community leader was vandalised, two cars were set on fire, and a Jewish school and two other properties in Sydney were sprayed with antisemitic slurs.
Melbourne's Adass synagogue, built by holocaust survivors in the 1960s, suffered widespread damage last year after a fire that injured one.
In the wake of the incidents, Australia in February passed anti-hate crime laws under which a Nazi salute in public, among other similar offences, will be punishable by a mandatory jail sentence.
The laws will impose jail sentences between 12 months for less serious hate crimes, such as giving a Nazi salute in public, and six years for those found guilty of terrorism offences.
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