‘Time for action’ as cops hunt synagogue fire suspects
Police enforcement and prosecutions against anti-Semitic acts need to improve, Australia’s special envoy says as she calls for concrete action.
Jillian Segal
Police have been criticised for being too slow to act against anti-Semitism as officers hunt the people who firebombed a synagogue.
The attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne’s southeast was the final straw in a terrible year for the Jewish community Australia’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal said.
The firebombing is being investigated as a likely terror attack with the Joint Counter Terror Team (JCTT) taking the lead as authorities hunt three suspects.
“The rise in anti-Semitism is just completely unacceptable but what we need now is a co-ordinated response,” Ms Segal said on Tuesday as she called for strong action.
“We need to see policing where people are brought to justice and linked through to actual prosecutions and penalties.”
The special envoy didn’t pin the blame on the federal government following criticism the prime minister has been too slow to act, saying there were multiple factors that contributed to the rise in anti-Semitism.
“So far, we’ve not seen very serious penalties apply to anyone who has been arrested, whether it’s been for flying a prohibited flag or anything like that,” she said.
“That has set the tone of permissiveness in our community and that’s been a combination of government, policing, enforcement, the court system and the community more generally.”
Ms Segal welcomed strong condemnation from the federal government and the establishment of a dedicated anti-Semitism taskforce before meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House on Tuesday.
“We need to see how it works and we need to see results – it’s time for action,” she said.
Testing laws to ensure perpetrators were held to account and education were key issues that would be raised in the meeting, she said.
“Because if the laws are not adequate to deal with the hate, we need to look at changing them or amending them,” she said.
It was an issue that needed to transcend politics, she added, as the coalition launched attacks against the prime minister for his response.
Labor’s Josh Burns, who is Jewish, called for bipartisanship on the issue, saying the major political parties needed to put their differences aside.
The community was upset and frustrated in the wake of the arson, he said.
“It should never have gotten to this,” the MP for the seat of Macnamara in Melbourne told ABC radio.
“For months and months we’ve been warning about the rise of anti-Semitism, the Jewish community has been screaming … that this has been escalating.
“We need to stamp this out and we need to throw the full resources of government (at it) to ensure that these anti-Semitic incidents are crushed.”
The terror declaration opens up a raft of extra powers for investigators including the ability to stop, search and seize people without a warrant as well as detain and question those they believe have knowledge of, or links to, the attack.
The JCTT is made up of state and federal police and ASIO officers.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says her government is looking at introducing laws to protect people at places of worship from protesters, similar to the state’s laws for abortion clinics, a move welcomed by Ms Segal.
Photos from inside Adass Israel provided to AAP show the extent of damage to the synagogue built by Holocaust survivors.
Torahs, books and papers lay charred and waterlogged across the floor, as walls and the insides of the building were collapsed.
The community has vowed to rebuild and are using other facilities in the meantime.
By: Dominic Giannini, Kaitlyn Offer and Adrian Black/AAP
