{"id":25281,"date":"2026-06-23T02:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/police-charge-a-third-suspect-in-a-melbourne-synagogue-arson-allegedly-directed-by-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T02:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:17:19","slug":"police-charge-a-third-suspect-in-a-melbourne-synagogue-arson-allegedly-directed-by-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/police-charge-a-third-suspect-in-a-melbourne-synagogue-arson-allegedly-directed-by-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Police charge a third suspect in a Melbourne synagogue arson allegedly directed by Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_NKDzNiRdMwP?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.2.3\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Police charged a third suspect on Friday with an arson attack on a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/australia-synagogue-fire-melbourne-terrorism-a9b3940618560648504ce48b02fdcd36\">Melbourne synagogue<\/a> that was allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/australia-iran-antisemitism-attacks-fad2dc76125807a643bfe14cae33d2c8\">directed by Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-year-old man was one of three masked offenders who broke into the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/australia-arsonists-melbourne-synagogue-antisemitism-d6452045beaac39bd11a97a8fe851d37\">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<p>The fire caused extensive damage to the synagogue and a worshipper sustained minor injuries.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>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<p>His co-accused <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/australia-synagogue-arson-melbourne-arrest-adass-israel-284a5f73687ef35d6896b1b79fd2d61f\">Giovanni Laulu<\/a>, 21, was arrested in July last year and another suspect, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/australia-iran-revolutionary-guard-arson-synagogue-3f0293ddda8f65a08e385eaa846f54d0\">Younes Ali Younes<\/a>, 20, was arrested a month later.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/anthony-albanese\">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<p>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<p>Iran\u2019s ambassador to Australia and another three Iranian diplomats were expelled. Tehran has denied Australia\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n<p>Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Crozier told reporters on Friday that investigators were working with international partners in the continuing investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Police were also investigating whether the three alleged arsonists knew who ordered the attack.<\/p>\n<p>\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<p>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<p>\u201cOur heart goes out to them. Again, this brings back this terrible incident,\u201d O\u2019Halloran said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople deserve the right to feel safe and be safe in their community and particularly at their place of worship. Today\u2019s charges are a strong testament to this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The latest suspect will make his first court appearance on the new charges next week.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian government has established a public inquiry to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/australia-antisemitism-bondi-shooting-royal-commission-jewish-268d18b155876f1f44ffaffaf7d658d3\">investigate a rise in antisemitism<\/a> across the country, including the killing of 15 people when two gunmen opened fire on a Sydney <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/austroalia-mass-shooting-jewish-festival-sydney-bondi-beach-d17bc9b6c9bae080b452898bd88169b2\">Hanukkah celebration<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/22\/police-charge-a-third-suspect-in-a-melbourne-synagogue-arson-allegedly-directed-by-iran\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Police charged a third suspect on Friday with an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue that was allegedly directed by Iran. The 20-year-old man was one of three masked offenders who broke into the Adass Israel Synagogue, doused the interior with flammable liquid then set it alight in the early hours [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}