Arrest made in December 2024 Attack from the Melbourne synagogue

One of the three suspicious men of a fire in a fire in a Melbourne Synagogue last year He was arrested, police said Wednesday.

A 21 -year -old Melbourne man, who was not identified, was arrested in a house under suspicion that he had set fire in the Synagogue of Adass Israel in December, said Victoria Police commissioner, Wendy Steendam.

The attack prior to Ataño on December 6, 2024 destroyed the synagogue and left a worshiper with minor burns.

The arrest is a great advance for researchers in the Victorian counter-terrorism team that is treating the attack as a politically motivated.

The team involves the State and Federal Police of Victoria, as well as the main national spy agency in Australia. More than 220 law agents have dedicated more than 50,000 hours to investigation.

“Today’s arrest is a demonstration of our ongoing efforts to make those involved be accounts,” Steendam said in a statement announcing the arrest. “Now we have charged two people as part of this investigation and I hope there is more to come.”

Two weeks ago, a 20 -year -old man was accused of stealing the car used in the synagogue attack. But that suspect has not been accused of being one of the masked men who used brooms to extend an accelerating liquid on the synagogue floor before turning it on.

A condemnation for fire caused a maximum potential of 15 years in prison, while the other two crimes are punished with 10 years in prison. The suspect has not yet been charged.

“I want to reassure the Victorians, particularly those of the Jewish community, who remain relentless in our search to find all those responsible for this crime and make you accounts,” Steendam told reporters.

Police suspect that criminals abroad had worked with Associates in Victoria to orchestrate the attack, said Vice President of the Federal Police of Australia, Krissy Barrett.

“Motivation is still being evaluated,” Barrett told journalists.

“We are … working closely with our Five eyes International partners and partners to ensure that our collective powers and capacities are to help take those responsible to justice, “he added. Five Eyes is an intelligence association that includes Australia, the United States, Great Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

Barrett refused to say who were the suspects on the high seas or identify the countries in which they operated.

“This crime was despicable since it was dangerous, and it is important to recognize that this was not just a fire in a synagogue,” he added in a statement. “The effect of this crime has been extended through a community that is still attacked by criminals. We will not defend this.”

A wave of antisemy attacks has traveled Australia since the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023, Hamas to Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The attack of the synagogue is the only incident that has been classified as an act of terrorism, a designation that increases the resources available for research.

The Minister of Interior Affairs, Tony Burke, welcomed the arrest in relation to what he described as a “hate crime.”

Burke said his government had promised 30 million Australian dollars ($ 20 million) to rebuild the synagogue.

“This arrest cannot undo the pain and fear that will cause (fire), but it does send the strongest message that this type of hatred and violence does not take place in Australia,” Burke told Parliament.

“This attack was not simply an attack against the Jewish Australians; an attack against a synagogue is an attack against Australia and is treated as such,” he added.

Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Jewry Australian, the main defender of the Jewish community of the Nation, hoped that more arrests would be made and that the intellectual authors of the crime would quickly take justice.

“Only then will a deterrent element be established against this type of chilling behavior,” Aghion said.

Earl this month, A incendiary caught fire at the door of another synagogue In Melbourne, spraying the double front doors of the center of the Hebrew congregation of the center of Melbourne and turning it on. Around 20 worshipers share a meal to mark the Jewish rest day Shabbat evacuated through a back door, police said. No one was injured.

• Australia
• Arson
• Anti -Semitism