Second suspect arrested over Adass Synagogue arson attack
20-year-old man charged for alleged involvement in December firebombing of Adass Synagogue.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL) Australian police say they have arrested a second person suspected of being responsible for an arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in December that pushed the country’s antisemitism problems into the international spotlight.
A 20-year-old man from Meadow Heights was arrested in mid-August by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) for his alleged role in the firebombing, which injured two people and destroyed much of the building. Police announced the arrest on Thursday, when the man was charged with arson, conduct endangering life, and theft of a motor vehicle.
Arson carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment, while the other two charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years, the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation said in a joint statement.
The arrest was the second connected with the incident, after a 21-year-old Melbourne man was detained and charged in late July. No announcement has been made about a third individual believed to have been involved in the attack.
“The AFP, together with Victoria Police under the JCTT, warned we would not allow these alleged crimes to go unpunished, and today’s latest arrest highlights that we remain laser-focused on identifying those responsible and holding them to account for this attack,” AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations Nick Read said in a statement following the charges.
“This investigation has been one of the highest priorities for the JCTT. I want to reassure the community – especially the Jewish community – that the AFP, together with Victoria Police and ASIO, are working relentlessly to bring this investigation to its conclusion.”
Security forces have been criticised within the Australian Jewish community for their months-long failure to identify the suspects in the case, which many saw as a turning point in the battle against antisemitism.
More than 220 law enforcement officers have devoted over 50,000 hours to the investigation, authorities said in July.
Australian Jews have been frustrated by what they say is the failure of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government to rein in attacks and violent rhetoric, but were cautiously hopeful he would do more to protect the Jewish community after he and his Labor Party were re-elected to lead the country in May.
Anti-Jewish activity in Australia has skyrocketed in the year since Hamas terrorists launched the war against Israel on 7 October 2023. Some 2,062 incidents were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, compared with 495 incidents a year earlier, according to data from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
In recent months, Jews have seen synagogues, schools and homes firebombed, two nurses threaten to kill Jewish patients in their hospital, and the discovery of a trailer filled with explosives said to have been intended to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.
The country’s recent decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September has aggravated a growing sense of alienation among the country’s 120,000-strong Jewish community and sparked a sharp war of words between Albanese’s government and Israeli officials.
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