Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese condemned as an antisemitic attack.
Australian police said they were looking for two people suspected of deliberately starting a fire at Adass Israel Synagogue that injured one and caused widespread damage.
The Victoria state police said a worshipper who was at the synagogue for morning prayers saw two people who appeared to be spreading accelerant inside the building before setting it on fire.
Counter-terrorism police will liaise with the Victoria state police on the investigation, Albanese said.
“This is an outrage. The violence and intimidation and destruction at a place of worship is something that we should never see in Australia,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I think an attack on a synagogue is an act of antisemitism by definition,” Albanese added.
Attacks against Jews and Muslims have increased in Australia since Israel declared war on Hamas in October last year.
The government has appointed special envoys to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia in the community.
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the broader Australian community needed to condemn the arson attack.
“I've been getting phone calls this morning from the Hindu community, from other people, from good people who are prepared to stand up and that's my message for this morning to Australia, to the good people of Australia,” Aghion told reporters.
“Don't leave the Jewish people behind,” he added.
Additional reporting by Reuters.