{"id":34671,"date":"2026-06-19T16:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/34671\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:17:07","slug":"police-charge-a-third-suspect-in-a-melbourne-synagogue-arson-allegedly-directed-by-iran-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/34671\/","title":{"rendered":"Police charge a third suspect in a Melbourne synagogue arson allegedly directed by Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia — Police charged a third suspect on Friday with an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue<\/a> that was allegedly directed by Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old man was one of three masked offenders who broke into the Adass Israel Synagogue<\/a>, doused the interior with flammable liquid then set it alight in the early hours of Dec. 6, 2024, a police statement alleged.<\/p>\n

The fire caused extensive damage to the synagogue and a worshipper sustained minor injuries.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

His co-accused Giovanni Laulu<\/a>, 21, was arrested in July last year and another suspect, Younes Ali Younes<\/a>, 20, was arrested a month later.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese<\/a> last year accused Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard of directing the synagogue fire and an arson attack two months earlier at a Sydney kosher eatery, Lewis\u2019 Continental Kitchen.<\/p>\n

Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the nation\u2019s main domestic spy agency, said the Revolutionary Guard used a \u201ccomplex web of proxies to hide its involvement\u201d in both antisemitic attacks.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s ambassador to Australia and another three Iranian diplomats were expelled. Tehran has denied Australia\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Crozier told reporters on Friday that investigators were working with international partners in the continuing investigation.<\/p>\n

Police were also investigating whether the three alleged arsonists knew who ordered the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d Crozier said.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul O\u2019Halloran said police had informed the local Jewish community of the third arrest before the news was made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur heart goes out to them. Again, this brings back this terrible incident,\u201d O\u2019Halloran said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The latest suspect will make his first court appearance on the new charges next week.<\/p>\n

The Australian government has established a public inquiry to investigate a rise in antisemitism<\/a> across the country, including the killing of 15 people when two gunmen opened fire on a Sydney Hanukkah celebration<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia — Police charged a third suspect on Friday with an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[30207,2034,263,21368,6191,260,30206,30208,30209,33],"class_list":["post-34671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-arson","tag-fires","tag-general-news","tag-law-enforcement","tag-melbourne","tag-prisons","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-religion","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}