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Australian PM Blames Antisemitism for Arson Attack on Melbourne Synagogue, Manhunt Underway for Suspects

Arsonists heavily damaged the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 6, 2024. Photo: Screenshot

Arsonists heavily damaged a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister called an antisemitic attack.

The fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue, which injured one person and caused extensive damage to the building, began early on Friday. Australian police said the assailants were wearing masks and they were searching for two people suspected of deliberately starting the fire.

While investigators have not yet identified a motive, 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 in a statement that counter-terrorism police will liaise with Victoria state police on the investigation.

State police in Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, said a worshiper at the synagogue saw two people who appeared to be spreading accelerant inside the building before setting it on fire.

“We believe it was deliberate. We believe it has been targeted. What we don’t know is why and we’ll get to the why,” Detective Inspector Chris Murray told reporters.

“There was some banging on a door with some liquid thrown inside and was lit alight. The few people inside the synagogue ran outside the back door; one of them got burnt,” Adass Israel Synagogue board member Benjamin Klein told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks reportedly responded to the blaze.

Victoria state Premier Jacinta Allan said in a statement that the synagogue was “built by Holocaust survivors” in the suburb of Ripponlea.

“Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart,” Allan added, noting there would be a heavier police presence in the area. “We stand against antisemitism now and forever.”

In a post on X/Twitter, the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia called on the government to do more to combat rising antisemitism.

“The firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne appears to be another shocking escalation of the hate that we have seen brazenly displayed on the streets of Melbourne every week for over a year,” Jeremy Leibler said.

“No one should be surprised; this violent attack is a direct consequence of words turning into actions. Jew-hatred, left unchecked, endangers all Australians. Enough is enough, this is a stain on our nation. It’s time for all levels of government to turn their words into actions to stamp out this Jew-hatred,” he added.

Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), called on all of Australia to condemn the arson attack.

“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,” Aghion tols reporters. “Stand with us. Stand against this hate. And stand against this kind of horrendous attack which should not occur on Australian soil.”

Friday’s incident came just days after the ECAJ published a new report showing that antisemitism in Australia quadrupled to record levels over the past year, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.

The data included dozens of assaults and hundreds of incidents of property destruction and hate speech. Physical assaults recorded by the group jumped from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024. The level of antisemitism for the past year was six times the average of the preceding 10 years.

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, the number of attacks on Jews — digital, political, and physical — has skyrocketed in Australia since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

In one notorious episode in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, hundreds of pro-Hamas protesters gathered outside the Sydney Opera House chanting “gas the Jews,” “f—k the Jews,” and other epithets.

The explosion of hate also included vandalism and threats of gun violence, as well as incidents such as a brutal attack on a Jewish man in a park in Sydney.

The post Australian PM Blames Antisemitism for Arson Attack on Melbourne Synagogue, Manhunt Underway for Suspects first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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