Who Gets Hit First
Police charged a third suspect on Friday with an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue that was allegedly directed by Iran, keeping the machinery of state power focused on a case that has already left a worshipper with minor injuries and caused extensive damage to the Adass Israel Synagogue. The 20-year-old man was one of three masked offenders who broke into the synagogue, doused the interior with flammable liquid and set it alight in the early hours of Dec. 6, 2024, according to a police statement.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which brings together federal and state police with a spy agency, charged the man, who has not been named, with offenses including arson. He was charged in a Melbourne jail where he was already being held in custody on unrelated offenses. Police declined to elaborate on those offenses.
The Apparatus Moves In
His co-accused Giovanni Laulu, 21, was arrested in July last year and another suspect, Younes Ali Younes, 20, was arrested a month later. The latest suspect will make his first court appearance on the new charges next week. The case now sits inside the familiar architecture of policing, intelligence work and court processing, with the state presenting itself as the only force capable of sorting out what happened.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Crozier said investigators were working with international partners in the continuing investigation. Police were also investigating whether the three alleged arsonists knew who ordered the attack. Crozier said, “They may not actually be aware of the people who are directing or the principals of these investigations. That remains a key line of inquiry for us.”
Who Decides, Who Pays
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of directing the synagogue fire and an arson attack two months earlier at a Sydney kosher eatery, Lewis’ Continental Kitchen. Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, said the Revolutionary Guard used a “complex web of proxies to hide its involvement” in both antisemitic attacks.
Iran’s ambassador to Australia and another three Iranian diplomats were expelled, and Tehran has denied Australia’s allegations. The diplomatic fallout shows how quickly the conflict moved from the burned synagogue floor to the higher levels of statecraft, where governments trade accusations, expulsions and denials while ordinary people are left with the damage.
Victoria Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul O’Halloran said police had informed the local Jewish community of the third arrest before the news was made public. O’Halloran said, “Our heart goes out to them. Again, this brings back this terrible incident,” and added, “People deserve the right to feel safe and be safe in their community and particularly at their place of worship. Today’s charges are a strong testament to this.”
What the Inquiry Delivers
The Australian government has established a public inquiry to investigate a rise in antisemitism across the country, including the killing of 15 people when two gunmen opened fire on a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December. The inquiry adds another layer of official process to a landscape already crowded with police teams, intelligence agencies, diplomatic expulsions and court dates.
The synagogue fire remains under investigation, with police saying they are still trying to determine whether the three alleged arsonists knew who ordered the attack. For now, the state’s answer is more charging, more surveillance, more coordination with international partners, and another appearance in court next week.