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After Massive Arson Attack, We in Australia’s Jewish Community Are Under Siege
Arsonists heavily damaged the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 6, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
On Friday morning, the world of the Australian Jewish community changed forever. The confidence that the community has always known has vanished — replaced with a new reality of uncharted, dangerous waters, where tolerance and security are no longer guarantees.
The impact of seeing a holy place of worship burning in the very heart of Jewish Melbourne, was like a stab in the heart of the Jewish people.
A synagogue represents so much more than a house of worship. It is a sanctuary for reflection, for learning, and for community gathering. For Jews, it is a cornerstone of identity and faith. An attack on such a place is not only an assault on Jewish life, but an assault on the core values that define Australia as a tolerant and inclusive society.
Australia’s relationship with its Jewish population has long been defined by warmth, mutual respect, and shared values — tracing all the way back to the early days of the country’s formation. It was the first country to vote in favor of the 1947 partition plan that paved the way for the establishment of the modern-day State of Israel. It was also the famed Australia Light Horse brigade that conquered Beersheba in October 1917, which enabled British forces to break the Ottoman line, leading to the end of Ottoman rule in the Land of Israel.
But the deliberate firebomb attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne reflects a broader, troubling trend. In recent times, the social fabric of Australia has come under severe strain, mirroring challenges in other parts of the world. The dramatic rise in antisemitism, up 316% since the October 7, 2023 Hamas pogrom — and Israel’s defensive response — has been particularly heartbreaking, given the country’s history as a refuge for Jewish people fleeing persecution.
Melbourne’s Jewish community, for instance, has a large number of descendants of Jews who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust. And the country has the largest population of Holocaust survivors per capita outside of Israel. Many found safety in Australia, a land free from the deep-seated prejudices of Europe. They rebuilt their lives and became integral contributors to Australian society. For these families, the attack on a synagogue in Melbourne echoes the dark past their ancestors sought to leave behind.
Yet the legacy of antisemitism is not one bound by geography, distance, or time. Its tentacles reach far beyond its origins in the old world, and are able to penetrate every fabric of society in every corner of the new world, including here in Australia. While Australia’s ruling government has become more hostile to Israel in recent years, it is also the changing demographic nature of the country — including people from places where antisemitism is much more normalized — that helps account for the negative changes happening here.
But political leadership has a responsibility too, and the failure of the government to act decisively against the growing wave of antisemitism has exposed the Jewish community to these acts of hostility.
This rise in antisemitism has coincided with the government’s decision to undermine decades of bipartisan diplomatic support for Israel, leaving many in the Jewish community to feel abandoned. Since October 7, 2023, the sitting government has constantly criticized Israel’s conduct in the war, failing to understand the existential threat Israel faces. Just last week, it supported a biased one-sided resolution at the United Nations that demanded Israel unilaterally withdraw from every inch of territory Palestinians want for their state, including all the holy places of Jerusalem, while demanding nothing of Palestinians — not even the cessation of terrorism.
And the Australian government has failed to crack down on weekly anti-Israel protests, which are often violent and intimidating, and take place in our major cities.
The flames of antisemitism are burning in Australia, just like they are burning in Canada and France and many places across the world. But to douse these flames requires a willpower, strength, and a moral clarity that this government has so far not shown.
If Australia’s leaders fail to act, it will not just be a single synagogue consumed by these flames — but the very fabric of Australian society itself.
Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post After Massive Arson Attack, We in Australia’s Jewish Community Are Under Siege first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.