Kiwi describes being inside Melbourne synagogue as it was set on fire

A New Zealander inside a Melbourne synagogue subject to an alleged arson attack on Friday says it is a worrying escalation from "hate speech into violence".

Flammable liquid was poured over a door and set alight on Friday. About 20 people were in the East Melbourne Synagogue at the time of the attack.

Counter terrorism police have arrested a 34-year-old man.

Also in Melbourne, on the same night, about 20 masked protesters harassed diners at an Israeli-owned restaurant. Three cars were also set on fire outside a Melbourne business.

One of those inside the Melbourne synagogue on Friday evening was New Zealander Murray Meltzer.

He told RNZ's Morning Report it was a "very tranquil" service before the attack.

"Congregants meet there every week on a Friday around sunset for the Shabbat services, and regularly a handful of us meet for dinner afterwards — that's what was happening on Friday night."

Shortly before 8pm, soon after dinner began, the synagogue's bell began ringing "repeatedly, which is unusual".

"One of the children, around age 13, was playing at the front of the building," Meltzer said.

They glanced at the CCTV monitor — which Meltzer called an "unfortunate sign of the times [with] concern about rising anti-Semitism" — and ran towards the back.

"By then there was smoke starting to creep under the front entrance and find its way into the central synagogue sanctuary area, and as a result of that, we obviously ran to the front initially to try and put out the fire. Everyone else was at the back of the building.

"And by then we had a couple of passersby that had spotted the flames developing at the front of the building called the fire brigade, which is located fairly close by, so fortunately, the fire brigade was there very quickly, thank goodness."

The gravity of what had happened — not just at the synagogue, but elsewhere — "hit home the next day" when people showed up for the Saturday morning service and there was a "large press crowd there".

There has been a rise in the number of anti-Jewish and Islamophobic incidents in Australia since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in 2023.

In December last year, another synagogue in Melbourne was set alight.

Australia in early 2024 banned Nazi salutes and the public display of symbols associated with designated terror groups like Islamic State and Hamas. Last week it cancelled American rapper Kanye West's visa after he released a song Heil Hitler, praising the genocidal Nazi Party leader.

A synagogue in Sydney earlier this year was graffitied with swastikas, while in December anti-Islamic graffiti appeared in the city's west.

Meltzer said whoever lit the latest fire in Melbourne would have known there were people inside as all the lights were on.

"It's shifted the sort of activity we've seen in recent times from, from just a bit of hate speech and people's right to protest and stand up and say what their views are — just sort of, kind of shifted it quite dramatically. It's been left to fester and develop, and I guess the speech has moved from just a bit of hate speech into violence.

"And that's a real, that's a real, that's a real concern for us as a community."

Meltzer praised politicians from both sides of the Australian political divide for condemning the incidents.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he viewed the incidents with "utmost gravity," and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said they "have no place in our country".

"Australians have every right to be able to conduct their faith, to engage with each other in peace and harmony. That is the Australia that we cherish."

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, speaking from the scene on Sunday, called it an "attack on Australia".

"There's been some reporting that no one was physically injured — that doesn't mean no one was harmed. The community here was harmed. The Jewish community in Australia was harmed, and we were harmed as a nation."

rnz.co.nz