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Sydney Morning Herald
05-07-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
The night hate came calling: Inside the East Melbourne synagogue attack
The man rang the bell a second time. He then left the lit petrol bomb at the base of the door and casually walked away. The next thing the 13-year-old boy noticed was the smoke coming through the bottom of the door. By that stage, a passerby had already called the fire department. The petrol bomb did only superficial damage before the fire was brought under control by a crew from a nearby fire brigade. Glass remnants were recovered from the crude device. About four years ago, the synagogue reinforced the door with steel and constructed a blast-proof, transparent plastic security cage just inside the entrance. Smoke filled the cage and drifted into the sanctuary but the synagogue's defences held. The emotional wounds from this latest attack, to members of the synagogue, to Australian Jews and to a city that may be shocked to learn that some of us have to pray behind steel reinforced doors, will cut deeper. The City Shul is a place of immense importance to Jewish people. It is also an enduring part of this city's history. It has no formal ties to Israel but deep roots in the foundations of Melbourne. It is where John Monash, perhaps our greatest military leader, had his bar mitzvah as a boy, and where Victor Smorgon, one of the city's most successful businessmen and generous philanthropists, got married. On one of the walls, there is a board which carries the names of its members who died fighting for Australia's young federation in the Great War. The synagogue stands across from the state parliament gardens, St Patrick's Cathedral and Anglican and Lutheran churches. This part of Melbourne is known as Eastern Hill, where a rabbi can share a cup of coffee and a joke with a priest and a pastor, and regularly does. 'It is a beautiful space,' Rabbi Gutnick says. 'It is peaceful, by and large. You'd hate to think we have to turn it into Fort Knox.' Daniel Aghion, a Melbourne barrister and the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, says this is why Friday night's firebombing was an assault on all Australians. 'This is not just an attack upon Jews or the Jewish community. It is an attack upon our way of life.' The City Shul is not a place of solitude or silence. It is for family, food, prayer, song, conversation and life. When Rabbi Gutnick addressed his congregation on Saturday, he urged them not to give in to despair. The best way to fight is not with a stick, he told them, but to let in more light. When this masthead visited on Saturday, a service had just finished to celebrate the arrival of a new child in the congregation. More people than usual packed into the shul. Among them was Philip Zajac, president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria. As a Jewish community leader and lifelong Carlton supporter, Zajac had already had a wretched weekend. He learned of the firebombing at his synagogue while watching his team get thrashed at the MCG by arch rival Collingwood. But after Saturday's service, his spirit lifted. 'We are celebrating life and being together,' he said. 'The events of last night brought more people out to say we are here, you are not going to defeat us, we are strong.' Naomi Levin, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive, says the congregation was full of proud Jewish people who want us to know that they are proud of who they are and not afraid. Liberal MP David Southwick was also at the synagogue for the Saturday service. He was angry and saddened at how brazen the attack was. 'Find the bloke and lock him away,' he says flatly. While we talk inside the synagogue, toddlers are playing with Thomas the Tank Engine and superhero figures in the sanctuary. In the dining hall, congregants are tucking into bowls of chulent – a stew slow cooked ahead of the Sabbath – and the occasional shot of whiskey. There were children playing in the sanctuary on Friday night when the man set fire to their front door. Dennis Martin, 79, first came to the synagogue as a boy, when he could go to a mates' bar mitzvah on a Saturday morning and make it to Windy Hill to watch the Bombers in the afternoon. He describes it as heimish, a Yiddish word for homely or unpretentious. 'This is a particularly homely synagogue,' he explains. Rachel Gutnick, Rabbi Gutnick's wife, says it is heart-warming to see so many people come to the synagogue the day after the attack. Some of them rarely came to shul, but made a point of coming on Saturday. 'There is a lot of care and support,' she says. When does it say to Martin that someone apparently tried to burn this place down? 'I find it so distasteful and disturbing, the degree of blind anger that would make somebody do that,' he reflects. 'It could be a misguided response to Gaza or it could be virulent antisemitism. In both cases, it is madness of some sort.' Outside the synagogue, messages of condemnation, support and solidarity arrive in a torrent from political and community leaders. Premier Jacinta Allan says any attack on any place of worship is an act of hate and any attack on a synagogue is antisemitic. 'It is disgraceful behaviour by a pack of cowards,' she says. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says those responsible must face the full force of the law. Australian Multicultural Foundation chair Hass Dellal says people have the right to practise and express their religion without fear of vilification or violence. 'This is not who we are as a multicultural nation.' Much the same condemnation followed the arson attack in December which gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. After a six-month investigation by counter-terrorism detectives from Victoria Police and the AFP, no arrests have been made. Aghion says this is the tenth firebomb attack against Australian Jews in the past 12 months. His tolerance, both for violence against his community and hateful elements within an anti-Israel protest movement which he says are fuelling antisemitism, is at an end. 'There is a critical need for the institutions of our country, our political leadership, our policing, to understand that there is a fundamental problem here,' he says. 'The fundamental problem is that the Jewish community is being singled out and attacked time and time again because of a conflict on the other side of a world. 'If you want to say something in support of a position overseas, I'm not going to stop you, but what I am going to say is remember the people around you, remember the consequences of your language, remember the consequences of your actions, and make sure that you stay within those limits that you do not have an impact upon other Australians. 'That's the line that has been crossed time and time and time again, and these protests continue to cross it with impunity.' The same point was made by Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, who has long wrestled with the question of whether his local government should and can do more to put an end to the weekly Sunday protests through the city. 'I do think there are elements of this protest which have mutated and is now perpetrating these terrible acts,' he says. 'This is the act of a very small number of people, I do think we need to remind ourselves of that, but that doesn't mean it is not a terrible and vile act. All of us as a community need to stand up against it.' Police do not yet know what relationship the synagogue arsonist has with the anti-Israel protest movement, but it is self-evident that the same sentiment which drives the protest movement is motivating violence against Jews in Australia. The City Shul was first established in 1857, six years after Victoria became a separate colony, and has met in its Albert Street building since 1877. Throughout that long history it has not previously been firebombed.
The Age
05-07-2025
- General
- The Age
The night hate came calling: Inside the East Melbourne synagogue attack
The man rang the bell a second time. He then left the lit petrol bomb at the base of the door and casually walked away. The next thing the 13-year-old boy noticed was the smoke coming through the bottom of the door. By that stage, a passerby had already called the fire department. The petrol bomb did only superficial damage before the fire was brought under control by a crew from a nearby fire brigade. Glass remnants were recovered from the crude device. About four years ago, the synagogue reinforced the door with steel and constructed a blast-proof, transparent plastic security cage just inside the entrance. Smoke filled the cage and drifted into the sanctuary but the synagogue's defences held. The emotional wounds from this latest attack, to members of the synagogue, to Australian Jews and to a city that may be shocked to learn that some of us have to pray behind steel reinforced doors, will cut deeper. The City Shul is a place of immense importance to Jewish people. It is also an enduring part of this city's history. It has no formal ties to Israel but deep roots in the foundations of Melbourne. It is where John Monash, perhaps our greatest military leader, had his bar mitzvah as a boy, and where Victor Smorgon, one of the city's most successful businessmen and generous philanthropists, got married. On one of the walls, there is a board which carries the names of its members who died fighting for Australia's young federation in the Great War. The synagogue stands across from the state parliament gardens, St Patrick's Cathedral and Anglican and Lutheran churches. This part of Melbourne is known as Eastern Hill, where a rabbi can share a cup of coffee and a joke with a priest and a pastor, and regularly does. 'It is a beautiful space,' Rabbi Gutnick says. 'It is peaceful, by and large. You'd hate to think we have to turn it into Fort Knox.' Daniel Aghion, a Melbourne barrister and the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, says this is why Friday night's firebombing was an assault on all Australians. 'This is not just an attack upon Jews or the Jewish community. It is an attack upon our way of life.' The City Shul is not a place of solitude or silence. It is for family, food, prayer, song, conversation and life. When Rabbi Gutnick addressed his congregation on Saturday, he urged them not to give in to despair. The best way to fight is not with a stick, he told them, but to let in more light. When this masthead visited on Saturday, a service had just finished to celebrate the arrival of a new child in the congregation. More people than usual packed into the shul. Among them was Philip Zajac, president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria. As a Jewish community leader and lifelong Carlton supporter, Zajac had already had a wretched weekend. He learned of the firebombing at his synagogue while watching his team get thrashed at the MCG by arch rival Collingwood. But after Saturday's service, his spirit lifted. 'We are celebrating life and being together,' he said. 'The events of last night brought more people out to say we are here, you are not going to defeat us, we are strong.' Naomi Levin, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive, says the congregation was full of proud Jewish people who want us to know that they are proud of who they are and not afraid. Liberal MP David Southwick was also at the synagogue for the Saturday service. He was angry and saddened at how brazen the attack was. 'Find the bloke and lock him away,' he says flatly. While we talk inside the synagogue, toddlers are playing with Thomas the Tank Engine and superhero figures in the sanctuary. In the dining hall, congregants are tucking into bowls of chulent – a stew slow cooked ahead of the Sabbath – and the occasional shot of whiskey. There were children playing in the sanctuary on Friday night when the man set fire to their front door. Dennis Martin, 79, first came to the synagogue as a boy, when he could go to a mates' bar mitzvah on a Saturday morning and make it to Windy Hill to watch the Bombers in the afternoon. He describes it as heimish, a Yiddish word for homely or unpretentious. 'This is a particularly homely synagogue,' he explains. Rachel Gutnick, Rabbi Gutnick's wife, says it is heart-warming to see so many people come to the synagogue the day after the attack. Some of them rarely came to shul, but made a point of coming on Saturday. 'There is a lot of care and support,' she says. When does it say to Martin that someone apparently tried to burn this place down? 'I find it so distasteful and disturbing, the degree of blind anger that would make somebody do that,' he reflects. 'It could be a misguided response to Gaza or it could be virulent antisemitism. In both cases, it is madness of some sort.' Outside the synagogue, messages of condemnation, support and solidarity arrive in a torrent from political and community leaders. Premier Jacinta Allan says any attack on any place of worship is an act of hate and any attack on a synagogue is antisemitic. 'It is disgraceful behaviour by a pack of cowards,' she says. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says those responsible must face the full force of the law. Australian Multicultural Foundation chair Hass Dellal says people have the right to practise and express their religion without fear of vilification or violence. 'This is not who we are as a multicultural nation.' Much the same condemnation followed the arson attack in December which gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. After a six-month investigation by counter-terrorism detectives from Victoria Police and the AFP, no arrests have been made. Aghion says this is the tenth firebomb attack against Australian Jews in the past 12 months. His tolerance, both for violence against his community and hateful elements within an anti-Israel protest movement which he says are fuelling antisemitism, is at an end. 'There is a critical need for the institutions of our country, our political leadership, our policing, to understand that there is a fundamental problem here,' he says. 'The fundamental problem is that the Jewish community is being singled out and attacked time and time again because of a conflict on the other side of a world. 'If you want to say something in support of a position overseas, I'm not going to stop you, but what I am going to say is remember the people around you, remember the consequences of your language, remember the consequences of your actions, and make sure that you stay within those limits that you do not have an impact upon other Australians. 'That's the line that has been crossed time and time and time again, and these protests continue to cross it with impunity.' The same point was made by Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, who has long wrestled with the question of whether his local government should and can do more to put an end to the weekly Sunday protests through the city. 'I do think there are elements of this protest which have mutated and is now perpetrating these terrible acts,' he says. 'This is the act of a very small number of people, I do think we need to remind ourselves of that, but that doesn't mean it is not a terrible and vile act. All of us as a community need to stand up against it.' Police do not yet know what relationship the synagogue arsonist has with the anti-Israel protest movement, but it is self-evident that the same sentiment which drives the protest movement is motivating violence against Jews in Australia. The City Shul was first established in 1857, six years after Victoria became a separate colony, and has met in its Albert Street building since 1877. Throughout that long history it has not previously been firebombed.
The Journal
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
'Look, 40% of the southeast have Norman names': Browne defends William the Conqueror millennium
HERITAGE MINISTER JAMES Browne has said the year-long commemoration of the Normans is 'not celebrating anybody' amid claims the event is 'offensive'. A plan to commemorate the first Norman king of England William the Conqueror in 2027, one thousand years after his birth, was proposed to cabinet this week by Browne and was sharply met with dismay from Sinn Féin. The year-long commemoration were labelled 'offensive' by Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh . He said it beggared belief, given the 'legacy of William's successors invading and subjugating Ireland in the name of his English crown'. Asked about the criticism today, Browne told The Journal that the events were about 'respectfully commemorating a historical event that hugely influenced Ireland's future'. 'Look, around 15% of the population in this country are Norman heritage. When you go down to the southeast, up to 40% of surnames are Norman heritage.' The Normans, who landed in Wexford's Bannow Bay in 1169, were responsible for the foundation of many Irish towns. They also built castles, abbeys and cathedrals that are still standing today. These include St Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral. The first Norman king of England, William the Conquerer, began his reign after he won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, defeating King Harold's English army. Advertisement Following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Browne said the Normans 'left their mark in monumental ways' and he wants this new initiative to leave a lasting legacy, by promoting tourism and boosting the economy. Heritage Minister James Browne clarified that the events were not celebrating any particular person. Muiris Ó Cearbhaill / The Journal Muiris Ó Cearbhaill / The Journal / The Journal Today, he clarified that the events were about commemorating – not celebrating – a group of people who arrived to Ireland and 'ended up with a tagline of being more Irish than the Irish themselves'. 'They adopted Gaelic culture, they married into Gaelic families, and they fought for Irish freedom on many, many occasions. So we're right to commemorate it. We're not celebrating anybody, so we're not.' Ó Snodaigh this week slammed Browne's plan as amounting to 'scraping the barrel of colonialism, imperialism and English royalism' for the sake of 'themed tourism'. He said we should 'take pride in the rich architectural, cultural, and literary heritage' of Anglo-Norman Ireland, but that his party draws the line at focusing the commemoration around England's first Norman king. Asked about Ó Snodaigh's remarks, Browne told The Journal : 'I'm a little bit worried that Sinn Féin have increasingly taken any opportunity to hint at nativism. I think, you know, we really have to be very careful with this type of language.' The 'European Year of the Normans' will consist of multidisciplinary events, such as exhibitions, live performances, cross-border artistic residencies, re-enactments, student exchanges, sports, research and more. It will also involve partners from Normandy, the Channel Islands, Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Denmark. The events will take place from March to October 2027. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
The Journal
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Journal
Norman People? Calls for projects as Ireland to mark millennium since birth of William the Conquerer
ORGANISATIONS CAN NOW submit projects to be included in a cross-country celebration of a millennium since the birth of William the Conquerer. The year-long commemoration will take place in 2027 and aims to mark how the Normans shaped the island of Ireland, as well as the rest of Europe. Housing and Heritage Minister James Browne said the Normans 'left their mark in monumental ways' and he wants this new initiative to leave a lasting legacy, by promoting tourism and boosting the economy. The Normans, who landed in Wexford's Bannow Bay in 1169, were responsible for the foundation of many Irish towns. They also built castles, abbeys and cathedrals that are still standing today. These include St Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral. The 'European Year of the Normans' will consist of multidisciplinary events, such as exhibitions, live performances, cross-border artistic residencies, re-enactments, student exchanges, sports, research and more. It will also involve partners from Normandy, the Channel Islands, Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Denmark. The events will take place from March to October 2027. However, projects outside this timeframe can still be considered. Advertisement Project proposals will be accepted until 30 June, 2025. The Minister said that in the coming months, stakeholders will be coordinating to support the delivery of 'Norman-focused projects'. 'Obviously, Wexford will play its full part, from Norman Enniscorthy, through New Ross and the many other Norman-influenced places across the country,' he said. It will build on Norman history initiatives such as the Norman Way in Wexford. The first Norman king of England, William the Conquerer, began his reign after he won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, defeating King Harold's English army. The Normans then continued their sieges in Ireland. Richard de Clare, also known as Strongbow, is one of the most famous Anglo-Normans to invade. Wherever the Normans settled, new political, social, and legal orders emerged. Their network across Europe carried languages, cultures, technologies and traditions. William the Conquerer's exact date of birth is not known but it's estimated to be some time in 1027 or 1028. He died in 1087. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
The Independent
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Irish postal service offers to send cards to the Vatican for free
Ireland's postal service is offering to send mass or sympathy cards to the Vatican for free for people who wish to pay their respects to Pope Francis. The 88-year-old, who died on Easter Monday, has been dubbed by some as the 'people's pope', having spoken out for the poor and those in need and shunned many of the extravagances that come with papal life. Thousands have stood in line for hours, sometimes overnight, in St Peter's Square at the Vatican to pay their respects to the late pontiff. Irish post offices had received queries from the public looking for advice about the correct address and stamp to use. In response, Irish postal service An Post said it would offer the service for free and send cards to the Vatican in one batch in three weeks. An Post said: 'Cards may be posted to the following PO box for free until May 14 and An Post will ensure they are delivered directly to the Vatican: Cards to the Vatican, PO Box 13812, Freepost, Dublin 1.' On Thursday, Irish premier Micheal Martin signed a book of condolence for Pope Francis at the residence of the Apostolic Nunciature in Dublin. Books of condolences are also open at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, Galway Cathedral, the Apparition Chapel in Knock, and St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh. The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference said an online book of condolences on its website had gathered 600 signatures. 'This outpouring of affection is a true reflection of the kind of leader that Pope Francis was – a man who united people from all walks of life around the world,' it said. St Patrick's Cathedral will hold a memorial mass at 7pm on Thursday, with Archbishop Eamon Martin as the chief celebrant. Archbishop Martin, President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, Taoiseach Mr Martin and Tanaiste Simon Harris are all expected to attend the Pope's funeral on Saturday at 9am Irish time. Global leaders including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend.
