Australian police have charged a third suspect in the arson attack on Melbourne’s Adat Israel synagogue, which investigators say was carried out under Iranian direction. The 20-year-old man was one of three masked intruders who broke into the synagogue, poured flammable liquid inside and set it alight in the early morning hours of December 6, 2024. Police said the fire caused major damage and left one worshipper with minor injuries.
The counterterrorism unit charged the unnamed suspect with offenses including arson. He is already in a Melbourne prison on unrelated matters, which police declined to detail. Two other alleged participants were arrested earlier, Giovanni Lo Iello, 21, in July last year, and Younes Ali Younes, 20, the following month.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last year that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind the synagogue fire and an earlier arson attack on a kosher restaurant in Sydney two months before that. ASIO chief Mike Burgess said the Revolutionary Guards used a “complex network of proxies” to conceal their role in both anti-Semitic attacks. Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador and three other Iranian diplomats, while Tehran denied the accusations.
Federal police deputy commissioner Peter Crozier said on Friday that investigators were working with international partners and were also examining whether the three arsonists knew who ordered the attack. Victoria police deputy commissioner Paul O’Halloran said the Jewish community had been informed before the latest arrest was made public. He said the charges were a strong sign that people deserve to feel safe, especially in places of worship. Two worshippers spotted the blaze in time, called emergency services and likely prevented deaths. The fire destroyed one part of the building, badly smoke-filled the rest, sent two people to hospital for smoke inhalation, and required 17 fire trucks and 60 firefighters. Worshipper Yumi Friedman, who was there at 4 a.m. studying before prayer, said he heard “a big bang like a hammer,” then saw a window shatter and glass fly, and later burned his hand trying to re-enter the building. “It is shocking that there is antisemitism like this here in Australia,” he said.
