Anthony Albanese vows to help rebuild visits Adass Israel synagogue after terror attack

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to help rebuild the Adass Israel synagogue during a chaotic visit to the site of Friday’s terror attack, where he was met with a mixture of heckling and gratitude.

After days of political finger-pointing by the Opposition and criticism from Jewish leaders that the PM had abandoned them during a crisis - exacerbated after photos emerged of him playing tennis in Perth at the weekend - Mr Albanese toured the burned out ruins on Tuesday.

It came four days after Friday’s early-morning firebombing, which on Monday was declared a terrorism investigation with police focusing on three suspects.

Mr Albanese donned a kippah and spent about 45 minutes meeting with synagogue member - including Yumi Friedman, who was inside the building studying when he had to flee shortly after 4am on Friday - and local Labor MP Josh Burns.

The group had to push through a crowd of congregants, media and locals, to get inside to see the damage, with the scrum waiting for Mr Albanese as he came back outside.

When he emerged, Mr Albanese pledged to provide “whatever support is necessary”, including financial, to rebuild the synagogue, and make sure “that those who perpetrated this evil crime do not receive any benefit and indeed get the message that Australia is not a country that will tolerate such an act.”

He condemned the attack as “an act of terrorism, fuelled by anti-Semitism and stoked by hatred”, and said the country “needs to come together and unite”.

“One of the things that we spoke about inside with the community leaders was the fact that people have come to Australia because we are a country that is peaceful, we are a country that respects people of different faiths and are enriched by our diversity here,” he said.

Speaking alongside Mr Albanese, synagogue board member Benjamin Klein said the community was “very grateful the Prime Minister made the trip” to visit.

“It’s amazing to see (him) standing with us and we’re very grateful,” he said.

But as the PM finished his remarks and began to leave, he was jostled by the crowd and the heckling began.

The crowd shouted: “What are you doing for us”. One person shouted: “Why is the Prime Minister such a coward”, another said: “Time to resign”, while another yelled “Nice day for tennis” – a dig at Mr Albanese playing tennis on Saturday afternoon while the congregation was preparing to hold a vigil.

Others yelled complaints that he hadn’t taken any questions, as Federal police shouted at the crowd to give the cars space so they could whisk the PM away for a private meeting with some community leaders.

Mr Albanese’s visit came a day after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spent time with the synagogue leaders, and hours after Israel’s ambassador Amir Maimon visited the synagogue earlier in the day, where he took aim at the Government.

“The Jewish community deserves better. Australians deserve better. The Government must do better,” the Ambassador said.

The Coalition had earlier questioned why it had taken until Tuesday for Mr Albanese to visit the synagogue, saying it had left the Jewish community feeling “disappointed” in what they claim is the latest display of weak leadership.

They have also accused the Government of being too weak on anti-Semitism and allowing the bigotry to fester – saying that had ultimately led to the terror attack.

“I think it is strange that we’re now five days on from this happening and the Prime Minister still hasn’t attended and nor has any senior national security minister of the government, not the Home Affairs Minister (Tony Burke), not the Attorney-General (Mark Dreyfus),” home affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Tuesday morning.

He took aim at the PM for not changing his plans after the terror attack, and instead spending the weekend “campaigning, fundraising and playing tennis”.

“I don’t understand why he thinks a social hit of tennis is a more important or better use of his time than standing in solidarity with a persecuted community under attack from terrorists,” he said.

Mr Albanese on Monday had defended it as “exercise” after a day full of meetings and engagements, including at a Perth synagogue.

Mr Dutton on Tuesday said he didn’t “begrudge” his political opponent for exercising, but criticised him for being slow to act.

“The Prime Minister deserves some downtime, and I don’t begrudge him for that. But I do think the Prime Minister was slow to act in relation to calling this a terrorist attack,” he said.

“The weakness in that leadership gives rise to further acts of anti-Semitism.”

The rise in anti-Semitism in Australia, which will now be the target of newly established Special Taskforce Avalight as announced on Monday, has also captured the attention of a prominent international Jewish human rights organisation who are preparing to issue a travel warning.

“I will be sending a letter to the Australian ambassador to the United States informing him that we are going to place a travel advisory on Australia for Jews around the world,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper of The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in the United States, told The Age.

The organisaton reached out to community members through social media in the wake of the Ripponlea attack to say: “Arsonists burned a Melbourne synagogue, built by Holocaust survivors, injuring Jews and damaging sacred religious items”.

“Jews were trapped inside a Sydney synagogue by Hamas supporters, and a Jewish bakery in Melbourne was targeted by antisemites,” the organisation said, referencing other incidents that occurred within days of the Melbourne terror attack.

“These attacks coincide with Australia’s vote at the UN supporting an anti-Israel resolution calling for Israel to leave parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank — an action that would leave the Jewish state with indefensible borders.”

It follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linking the synagogue attack with the Albanese Government’s UN vote and Labor’s “extreme anti-Israel behaviour”.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday defended Australia’s position on Gaza and again urged Israel to abide by international law, “just like China and Russia do”.

She had come under fire for comments she’d made in a speech the night prior, where she said criticism of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza did not equate to anti-Semitism.

“It’s not anti-Semitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law that applies to all country,” she said on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Mr Dutton was accused of playing partisan games and prioritising politicking over a show of unity in the aftermath of the terror attack. Mr Burns – who had no voice on Friday – claimed the Opposition Leader had overridden an agreement the local MP made with a senior Liberal for his statement to be read.

Mr Burns had appeared alongside senator Paterson and a number of state and federal Liberals outside the synagogue on Friday.

“James agreed to read out a statement from me, because I thought it was really important there be a united front,” Mr Burns told ABC RN Breakfast on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, right before we got on, Peter Dutton intervened and told James that he wasn’t allowed to read out the statement.

“Peter Dutton told James that he wasn’t allowed to read out my words. I wanted to stand out with James and present a united front on this, and Peter Dutton decided that it was more important to play partisan games than to allow my words that I physically couldn’t speak to be read out.”

Mr Burns’ statement, which labelled the attack a “disgrace and extremely dangerous” was instead ready by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion.

Mr Burns on Tuesday said despite having no voice, “I wanted to make sure that my community knew that I was there, and that we do this in a bipartisan way”.

“I wanted to show unity,” he told ABC News.

In response to Mr Burns’ claims, Senator Paterson said that he felt “very sorry that Josh Burns and his community have been abandoned by the Labor Party in the wake of this terror attack”.

“But it is not the role of a Liberal frontbencher to act as a spokesman for a Labor MP,” Senator Paterson said.

“One of the many senior Albanese Government ministers should have been there to speak if Josh was not able to.”