MELBOURNE – A man was charged Sunday over an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue in an apparent escalation of antisemitic violence in Australia’s second-most populous city.
Angelo Loras, 34, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court Sunday charged with arson, endangering life and property damage. He was also charged with possessing a “controlled weapon” on Saturday when he was arrested. The charge sheet does not say what that weapon was.
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The Sydney resident did not enter a plea or apply to be released on bail. Magistrate John Lesser remanded Loras in custody to appear in court next on July 22.
Flammable liquid was ignited at the door of the East Melbourne Synagogue, also known as the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, on Friday night as 20 worshippers shared a Shabbat meal inside.
The congregation escaped without harm via a rear door and firefighters contained the blaze to the entrance area of the 148-year-old building.
Rabbi Dovid Gutnick, who was inside the synagogue with his family on Friday, said security cameras showed the perpetrator ringing the doorbell twice moments before the flames erupted.
Gutnick’s 13-year-old son was in the synagogue office at the time and decided against opening the door after seeing the visitor on the security camera monitor.
“We use the security cameras to assess people who ring the doorbell. Generally, we don’t hesitate to let someone in,” Gutnick told The Associated Press.
“My son hesitated and didn’t answer. By the time I came to the front, there was already smoke and flames coming in under the door,” he added.
It was the first of three apparent displays of antisemitic violence across the city on Friday and early Saturday morning.
Authorities have yet to establish a link between incidents at the synagogue and two businesses.
Antisemitism blamed for attacks on businesses
Also in downtown Melbourne on Friday night, around 20 masked protesters harassed diners in an Israeli-owned restaurant.
A restaurant window was cracked, tables were flipped and chairs thrown as protesters chanted “Death to the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces. A 28-year-old woman was arrested at the scene and charged with hindering police.
Police are also investigating the spray-painting of a business in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and an arson attack on three vehicles attached to the business before dawn on Saturday. The vehicles had also been graffitied.
Police said there were antisemitic “inferences” at the scene. The business had also been the target of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the past year.
Political leaders condemn antisemitism
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke met with Jewish leaders at the damaged synagogue on Sunday.
Burke told reporters that investigators were searching for potential links between the three incidents.
“At this stage, our authorities have not drawn links between them. But obviously there’s a link in antisemitism. There’s a link in bigotry. There’s a link in a willingness to either call for violence, to chant violence or to take out violent actions. They are very much linked in that way,” Burke said.
“There were three attacks that night and none of them belonged in Australia. Arson attacks, the chanting calls for death, other attacks and graffiti — none of it belonged in Australia and they were attacks on Australia,” Burke added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Australian government to “take all action to deal with the rioters to the fullest extent of the law and prevent similar attacks in the future.”
“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,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday.
“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,” he added.