The attack follows the firebombing last December which gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea. No charges have been laid in that attack despite Victorian and federal police launching a joint taskforce investigation into the suspected terror attack.
The East Melbourne synagogue, founded just six years after Victoria was established as a colony, is known as the city shul and is the only Jewish place of worship in central Melbourne.
The front doors of the synagogue were locked at the time of the attack, which was after traditional Shabbat prayers.
Worshippers were eating in a dining area near the rear of the building when the fire was lit.
The Herald Sun reported that across Melbourne’s CBD, masked, pro-Palestine protesters entered a Jewish restaurant at about 8.30pm chanting “Death to the IDF”, the catch-cry which British punk band Bob Vylan chanted from the stage at last weekend’s Glastonbury Festival.
Victoria Police confirmed about 20 protesters walked to the restaurant on Hardware Lane and began shouting offensive chants.
“A 28-year-old person from Footscray was arrested for hindering police and has been released on summons”, police said in a statement issued just after midnight.
The “Death to the IDF” chant was also heard in Melbourne’s Bourke Street mall during last Sunday’s regular anti-Israel protest.
Last month, vandals targeted a historic synagogue in South Yarra.
Attackers used red paint to scrawl “Free Palestine” and “Iran is Da Bomb”, set inside the outline of a nuclear mushroom cloud, on the heritage-listed synagogue.
There were no religious services or activities at the synagogue at the time.
Graffiti left on the synagogue in South Yarra on Sunday afternoon.
The vandal struck only hours after news broke that the US had dropped bombs on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
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