00:00As dawn approaches, a temple burns. Firefighters dousing a fierce inferno at one of Australia's
00:10busiest synagogues, which forced early morning worshippers to flee.
00:14It was about ten past four. I heard a big bang, like a sledgehammer on the door, and
00:19I got a shock. And the second ladder, there was a window and I saw glass flying, so I
00:24knew that someone was trying to break in there. So I shook myself and I raced out through
00:29the hall back into the lane.
00:32In the early hours of this morning, the Adas Israel Synagogue at Riponlee in Melbourne's
00:37South East was set alight. A witness telling police they saw two masked people spreading
00:43an accelerant inside the shul. The fire so fierce it took 17 trucks and 60 firefighters
00:50to bring it under control.
00:52There was some banging on a door with some liquid thrown inside and it was lit alight.
00:56A few people inside the synagogue ran outside the back door. One of them got burnt.
01:01To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue
01:11is an act of anti-Semitism.
01:14Investigators are treating the blaze as suspicious and say patrols in the area will be increased.
01:19Our first and foremost priority is to identify those individuals that are responsible for
01:25this. We believe it was deliberate. We believe it has been targeted. What we don't know is
01:30why and we'll get to the why.
01:33This is the second time the Adas Israel Synagogue has been attacked. In 1995 the temple was
01:39severely damaged by arson. While buildings can be reconstructed, some things are irreplaceable.
01:45Today from the ash and with the Sabbath on their doorstep, worshippers salvaged precious
01:50handwritten Torah scrolls as they now focus on rebuilding just weeks out from Hanukkah.
01:56The jewel in the crown of the community, to see it lying burnt and in ruins is quite horrendous.
02:02A community once again without a home.
Comments