Second man charged over Adass Israel Synagogue arson

A 20-year-old man is allegedly one of three hooded individuals who smashed their way into a Melbourne synagogue, setting it alight and reducing a large part of the temple to a charred structure and ash.

Police revealed on Thursday the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team charged the man, from Meadow Heights in the city’s north, with arson, conduct endangering life and stealing a motor vehicle, after the Adass Israel Synagogue was firebombed in December last year.

The man is the second to be charged over the firebombing, after police last month arrested a 21-year-old from Werribee, alleging he was one of three who broke into the synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne’s south-east and set it on fire.

One person allegedly remains on the run, after CCTV captured three hooded figures jumping out of a blue Volkswagen Golf car at the synagogue on the night of the fire.

“Under Operation Hilfield, the [counter terrorism team] has now charged two of the three alleged offenders accused of directly setting the synagogue on fire,” the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The CCTV showed the three masked offenders ferrying red jerry cans back and forth between the Golf and the synagogue. They used an axe to smash open the synagogue doors, throwing accelerant inside.

One man behind a white mask filmed it all on his mobile phone. Then a huge fireball erupted, and the figures dashed back to the car, driving away towards Melbourne’s west.

The Meadow Heights man was remanded in custody to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, police said.

Authorities still believe the firebombing was politically motivated, but have yet to make any arrests or charges in relation to terrorism.

“At no point should any of those who were involved in this attack feel like they are safe from police scrutiny – we are continuing to pursue every avenue of enquiry and every piece of information provided to us by the public,” Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism Tess Walsh said.

AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations Nick Read emphasised authorities were pursuing those responsible “relentlessly”. “We warned that further arrests would follow, and today we have taken yet another step towards justice,” Read said.

Police were examining exiled tobacco kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad as part of investigations into whether offshore criminals worked with Victorian associates to firebomb the synagogue.

In July, they charged a third man– a 20-year-old from Melton South in Melbourne’s west – for allegedly stealing the getaway car.

They believed the Golf was involved in a string of other crimes, including a drive-by shooting in Bundoora the same night as the synagogue fire, and an arson attack that engulfed a popular nightclub in flames about two weeks earlier.

Victoria Police in May charged a 20-year-old man from Pakenham in Melbourne’s south-east over the nightclub attack.

Police alleged that at least four men broke into Lux Nightclub in Chapel Street, South Yarra, and used accelerant to set the club alight, causing more than $10 million in damage. They allegedly left in the same blue Golf.

The maximum penalty for arson is 15 years in prison, while conduct endangering life and stealing a motor vehicle can draw prison sentences of up to 10 years.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said Thursday’s arrest was not the end of the story of the synagogue attack, but “the beginning of accountability for an outrage that tore at the heart of our community”.

“The fire did not only consume wood and stone. It consumed a sense of safety, leaving behind a wound that still bleeds,” Abramovich said.

“The individuals who tried to turn a house of pray into ashes failed. And when the reckoning is done, the only walls they will ever know are the iron bars of a cell.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion KC said the arrest was welcome news, “especially after another spate of serious antisemitic incidents in Melbourne in July”.

“We thank the Victorian Police and the Australian Federal Police for their painstaking work in apprehending some of the alleged perpetrators of this heinous crime and gathering the evidence for their prosecution,” Aghion said.

“Our community awaits further information about whether foreign actors were also involved.”

Police have urged anyone with more information about the synagogue firebombing to contact Crime Stoppers or the National Security Hotline.

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