The Prime Minister has denounced a fire at a Melbourne synagogue as an antisemitic attack that has no place in Australia. The temple went up in flames early this morning worshippers were inside the synagogue at the time. Police are hunting for three men, at least two of them are accused being masked and setting the blaze.
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00:00As dawn approaches, a temple burns. Firefighters dousing a fierce inferno at one of Australia's
00:10busiest synagogues, which forced early morning worshippers to flee.
00:14It was about ten past four. I heard a big bang, like a sledgehammer on the door, and
00:19I got a shock. And the second ladder, there was a window and I saw glass flying, so I
00:24knew that someone was trying to break in there. So I shook myself and I raced out through
00:29the hall back into the lane.
00:32In the early hours of this morning, the Adas Israel Synagogue at Riponlee in Melbourne's
00:37South East was set alight. A witness telling police they saw two masked people spreading
00:43an accelerant inside the shul. The fire so fierce it took 17 trucks and 60 firefighters
00:50to bring it under control.
00:52There was some banging on a door with some liquid thrown inside and it was lit alight.
00:56A few people inside the synagogue ran outside the back door. One of them got burnt.
01:01To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue
01:11is an act of anti-Semitism.
01:14Investigators are treating the blaze as suspicious and say patrols in the area will be increased.
01:19Our first and foremost priority is to identify those individuals that are responsible for
01:25this. We believe it was deliberate. We believe it has been targeted. What we don't know is
01:30why and we'll get to the why.
01:33This is the second time the Adas Israel Synagogue has been attacked. In 1995 the temple was
01:39severely damaged by arson. While buildings can be reconstructed, some things are irreplaceable.
01:45Today from the ash and with the Sabbath on their doorstep, worshippers salvaged precious
01:50handwritten Torah scrolls as they now focus on rebuilding just weeks out from Hanukkah.
01:56The jewel in the crown of the community, to see it lying burnt and in ruins is quite horrendous.
02:02A community once again without a home.