MELBOURNE: Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister condemned as an antisemitic attack on Australian values.
The blaze in the Adass Israel Synagogue is an escalation in targeted attacks in Australia since the war began between Israel and Hamas last year. Cars and buildings have been vandalized and torched around Australia in protests inspired by the war.
A witness who had come to the synagogue to pray saw two masked men spreading a liquid accelerant with brooms inside the building at 4:10 a.m., officials said.
About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks responded to the blaze, which police said caused extensive damage.
Investigators have yet to identify a motive, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blamed antisemitism.
“This was a shocking incident to be unequivocally condemned. There is no place in Australia for an outrage such as this,” Albanese told reporters.
“To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue is an act of antisemitism, is attacking the right that all Australians should have to practice their faith in peace and security,” he added.
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon noted that dozens of pro-Palestinian activists staged a three-hour protest outside The Great Synagogue in downtown Sydney on Wednesday, demanding sanctions against Israel. Worshippers were prevented from leaving the synagogue during the demonstration.
“We are talking about the values you expect Australians to follow, not my own values. And for me it’s clear that everyone should have the right to worship his own religion, own beliefs, as long as they also respect others,” Maimon said.
A religious leader at the torched mosque, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, described the arsonists as “thugs.”
“Tonight is the Sabbath. We must all go and find a sense of calmness, comradery and community by gathering for the Sabbath tonight and praying together as one community,” Klatmann told reporters outside the synagogue.
Federal law in January banned the Nazi salute and the public display of Nazi symbols in response to growing antisemitism.
The government appointed special envoys this year to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia in the community.
The Jewish envoy, Jillian Segal, a Sydney lawyer and business executive, said the Jewish community in Australia was “feeling ever more rattled by what is going on.”
“I’m very concerned. Here is one major escalation in terms of burning synagogues which has resonance as to what happened during the Holocaust,” Segal said.
Victoria state Premier Jacinta Allan noted in a statement that the synagogue was “built by Holocaust survivors.”
Many of the synagogue’s original worshippers were post-World War II immigrants from Hungary.
Allan offered 100,000 Australian dollars ($64,300) to help repair the synagogue and said there would be an increased police presence in the area.
“Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart,” Allan said.
“We stand against antisemitism now and forever,” she added.
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the broader Australian community needed to condemn the arson attack.
“I’ve been getting phone calls this morning from the Hindu community, from other people, from good people who are prepared to stand up and that’s my message for this morning to Australia, to the good people of Australia,” Aghion told reporters.
“Don’t leave the Jewish people behind. Don’t isolate us. Don’t leave us exposed to the risk of attacks upon our religious institutions, our communal institutions. Stand with us. Stand against this hate. And stand against this kind of horrendous attack which should not occur on Australian soil,” he added.
Australian leader blames antisemitism for arson that extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue
https://arab.news/mut4t
Australian leader blames antisemitism for arson that extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue
- Fire broke out at 4:10 a.m. in the Adass Israel Synagogue when some congregants were already inside
- Members of the congregation form human chain to remove religious items from the damaged synagogue
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
