Police investigate suspicious fire at Melbourne synagogue

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Firefighters responded to a fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne’s South-East. Law enforcement believe the fire was deliberate with the Prime Minister labelling the fire having ‘no place in Australia’.

Transcript

00:00I've been speaking to Jewish community leaders here and the tension is really palpable after

00:07this arson attack on the Adas Israel synagogue here just behind me.

00:13You can see how the synagogue, which is the main area in grey behind me, and also the

00:17adjoining community hall has been gutted.

00:21This was after firefighters came down here at ten past four in the morning here in Ripon

00:27Lee, which is about 7km southeast of Melbourne CBD, to find it fully engulfed in flames.

00:34Now it took 60 firefighters 45 minutes to control this blaze, luckily they were able

00:39to stop it from going into nearby adjoining properties.

00:43But I just spoke to one of the worshippers here, Yumi, now he says he was inside the

00:49synagogue at the time when two masked men came in and were banging on the door like

00:55a sledgehammer.

00:56He ran away but then got his hand burnt as he touched the door after coming back to check

01:01out what was actually happening.

01:03And obviously police are saying that accelerant was used in this attack, some sort of liquid

01:08that had been sprayed around the synagogue.

01:11Now I spoke earlier on to the Council of Australian Jewry President, Daniel Argin, and he says

01:18that everybody around the community, not just the Jewish community, needs to condemn this

01:23in the strongest possible terms.

01:25This is what he had to say.

01:27I've been getting phone calls this morning from the Hindu community, from other people,

01:32from good people that are prepared to stand up.

01:34And that's my message for this morning to Australia, to the good people of Australia.

01:42Don't leave the Jewish community behind.

01:48So that's the Council of Australian Jewry President Daniel Argin talking there and he

01:52said that the Jewish community has been warning for some time that something like this was

01:57going to happen.

01:58Such was the rise of feeling of anti-Semitism that they were feeling in the community and

02:03some of the hatred that had been directed towards the community as well.

02:07I've also been able to speak to the Jewish Community Council of Victoria CEO, Naomi Levin,

02:12and she says that the fear around the community, especially among young Jewish students, is

02:17really palpable.

02:18This is what she had to say.

02:21Our priority is to make sure this community can live as proud Australians and proud Jewish

02:27people.

02:29We urge police to do everything they can to find the culprits of this terrible incident

02:34and we'll be supporting the Adas Israel community, those who come and pray at this synagogue

02:39every day, to be able to live as safe and proud Jewish Victorians.

02:47And Steph, we've just heard from Victorian police, in fact, the head of the arson squad

02:53in the last little while.

02:54What did they have to say?

02:56Yes, that was Chris Murray, Detective Inspector from the Arson and Explosive Squad, and he

03:02really wanted to allay the fears of the community, although the press conference that had just

03:08happened was, in a slight term, derailed a little bit when we had some of the Jewish

03:15community members actually asking questions of him, saying, what are you actually doing?

03:21Because there have been, for example, arson attacks against federal MP Josh Burns, and

03:26that they believe not everybody who was responsible is being held to account for that.

03:30Now, he said that they were going to step up patrols in this area, they were going to

03:34make sure that the Jewish Sabbath was well and truly able to be conducted in peace this

03:40weekend.

03:41And we also heard, as well, that he has been looking at CCTV vision, or at least they have

03:47been able to retrieve some from the synagogue.

03:49Whether or not that has been damaged by fire is another matter, but this is what he had

03:54to say.

03:55I'm here in the capacity as the officer in charge of the Arson and Explosive Squad to

03:59give that reassurance to the community that we will do everything we can to bring these

04:04individuals before the courts, and to let the community know that we're going to do

04:09our best to make sure that they can return, as they should, to their local synagogues,

04:17and do what is absolutely Australian, that is, to be able to worship without fear.

04:26So that's Detective Inspector Chris Murray from the Arson Squad there.

04:30And he was saying that he wants to hear from anybody who might have been driving around

04:34this area, even if you think that the vision might be innocuous, your dash cam footage

04:39maybe from three o'clock in the morning, it might prove crucial to be able to piece

04:42together exactly who did this.

04:45It was asked whether or not there were any arrests made.

04:48He said there were some people who were apprehended and asked for questioning, but at this stage

04:53still no arrests, and also he says that this investigation is in its very early stages

04:58in answer to some criticism from the Jewish community.

05:01Now we've also heard, as well, from the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who has condemned

05:06this attack in the strongest possible terms.

05:09This is what he had to say on ABC Radio.

05:12A terrible morning to awake to this news, which all Australians should unequivocally

05:19condemn.

05:20This is an outrage.

05:23This is clearly an act of anti-Semitism.

05:27It's an attack on a place of worship, a synagogue there, so by definition this is an act of

05:36hate and it's something that should not occur in Australia or anywhere else for that matter.

05:44People must be allowed to conduct their faith as they see fit in a peaceful way.

05:54That's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaking on ABC Radio earlier, and it is a truly terrible

06:00day for the local Jewish community here at Riponlee, and the shockwaves are being really

06:04felt across the Jewish community here in Melbourne and indeed Australia.

06:09We've been speaking to some of the community leaders who've talked about the Torah scrolls

06:14that might have been damaged in this fire, and they say that is just at the beating heart

06:19of this Jewish community, and if any of those scrolls, if any one of those scrolls is damaged

06:25or burnt, then the entire community will fast for one day for that one scroll, and they

06:31will also conduct a proper ceremony of a funeral in similar to someone who has died

06:37to be able to properly bury that scroll as well.

06:40So such is the sentiment and the precious indication of just what might have been lost

06:46here at this Adas Israel synagogue.

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