Police are treating a large fire that engulfed a synagogue in Melbourne’s south as suspicious, following reports that two men broke in, doused the building with petrol and set it alight.
Around 60 firefighters and 17 trucks were called to the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea in Glen Eira at around 4.18am on Friday.
Jewish leader Benjamin Klein at Ripponlea in Melbourne at this time. Good day. Your community is obviously shocked by this. What do you think happened? We are. It’s hard to say exactly what happened. Waiting for the police to give us some reports. As far as we know, two people came to the synagogue around 4:30, a quarter to 5 this morning, threw some gasoline inside and lit it and everyone is recovering from this horrendous tragedy. Tell us about the community response. The community has been absolutely shocked. Every morning between 200 and 300 people pass through the synagogue. They arrived this morning and saw a sining no. It is the jewel in the crown of
community. It is horrendous to see the jewel as it looks. Do you expect something like this to happen in Australia? We don’t. We live very far from everything that happens in the rest of the world. We are a very calm and peaceful community. We have our heads down, we pray, we learn. We are a very quiet community and we do not expect this to happen within our community in Australia. It is a very beautiful, calm and quiet place. We don’t know the motivations behind this, but the people responsible, what is your message to them? I guess the message is that no one is coming to take us. We are here. We’ve been here a long time. We will continue to be here. It is a tragedy and difficult, but we will rebuild and we will become greater than ever. We are a peaceful and calm community and we are also very grateful to the police, fire, ambulance, thank you all for your support during such a difficult time. We will come out of this bigger and stronger.
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And bigger than ever. We are a peaceful and calm community and we are also very grateful to the police, fire, ambulance, thank you all for your support during such a difficult time. We will come out of this bigger and
Fire Rescue Victoria deputy chief fire officer Brayden Sinnamon said the 30m x 20m building was “fully involved” in the fire and the severity of the fire increased, with crews using breathing apparatus.
He said two people were evacuated with minor injuries but no other property was damaged.
The fire was deemed suspicious and Victoria Police launched an investigation.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare speculated the incident was not an accident.
“It’s pretty clear from their reports that this is not an accident, this is a deliberate act of violence, an attack on a place of worship, and let’s report it,” he told 7 News’ Sunrise programme.
“This is absolutely the opposite of what Australia is about.”
Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the incident was “very, very worrying”, adding: “It makes me feel quite sick to my stomach.”
“I feel sorry for the Jewish community that wakes up to this news today.”
Police have asked anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward with information or dashcam/CCTV footage.
The train level crossing at Glen Eira Road was blocked during the incident but has since been opened.