Latest Developments
• Task Force to Investigate Threats Against Jewish Community: Australia launched an antisemitism task force on December 9, following an arson attack that ripped through Melbourne’s historic Adass Israel Synagogue on December 6. The task force, serving under the Australian Federal Police, has been named Special Operation Abalight and will comprise experienced counter-terrorism investigators focusing on threats against the Jewish community and members of parliament.
• Investigation Determines Arson Was Terrorist Act: Australian police originally investigated the burning of the synagogue — built in the 1960s by Holocaust survivors — as a criminal act but on December 9 redesignated it as a terrorist attack. The designation unlocks additional resources for the investigation as well as powers of preventative detention. Police are searching for three suspects in connection with the attack.
• Australian Government’s Actions Blamed: On December 6, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “It is impossible to separate the reprehensible arson attack from the federal government’s extreme anti-Israeli position.” Australia’s Labor party-led government announced in August 2023 that it would refer to eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank as “occupied Palestinian territories” rather than “disputed” lands, said in April — not long after Hamas’s October 7 massacre — that it would consider recognizing a state of Palestine, and voted in favor of a UN resolution on December 3 demanding Israel withdraw unconditionally from all disputed territories.
FDD Expert Response
“The rampant antisemitism targeting Jewish communities in Australia and throughout the world has become an eighth front in Iran’s war against Israel. While some of it is openly jihadist and annihilationist, very often, the anti-Israel protestors mask their genocidal ambitions with a veneer of concern for human rights. But these distorted defamatory accusations are merely blood libels, concocted pretexts for promoting the medieval hatred of Jews.” —David May, Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst
“The hostile response of some Adass Israel congregants to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the destroyed synagogue is an important sign that Jewish communities are fed up with politicians opposing antisemitism with one side of their mouths while feeding the pro-Hamas bigots with the other side. It’s way past time for speeches and words of assurance — what’s needed is action from law enforcement and from interior ministries. That means recognizing the painful truth that has struck Jews all over the world during the past year — that anti-Zionism is now the dominant form of antisemitism, bringing with it all-too-familiar tactics of violence and intimidation.” —Ben Cohen, FDD Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager
FDD Background and Analysis
“‘Act of Antisemitism’: Synagogue Set Ablaze in Melbourne,” FDD Flash Brief
“Australia Shows That Hamas’ Terrorism Pays,” by David May
“Australian Government Bows to Far-Left Pressure on Israel,” by David May and Natalie Ecanow
“Canada Bans Arms Exports to Israel,” FDD Flash Brief