Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has given a personal pledge to the Adass Israel Jewish community to provide whatever financial support they need to rebuild their synagogue destroyed in last Friday’s terror attack.
After being accused by senior Jewish community figures of abandoning them at a time of crisis – and copping a political backlash for playing tennis and attending a party fundraising event in Perth instead of travelling immediately to the scene of an antisemitic attack that has gained worldwide notoriety – Albanese visited the burnt-out husk of the synagogue on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits the Adass Israel synagogue on Tuesday.Credit: Justin McManus
Albanese donned a skullcap and was surrounded by more than 100 people, including congregants and media, outside the Ripponlea synagogue as he looked at the ruins. Police on Monday declared the arson attack a terror incident.
Albanese and Labor MP Josh Burns met with members of the synagogue, pushing through a crush of people in the laneway beside the synagogue to get inside and inspect the damage.
They were joined by Yumi Friedman, who was inside the building studying religious texts in the early hours of Friday when he heard what sounded like a sledgehammer slamming into the door and jumped from his seat, before fleeing the building.
Albanese’s security detail needed to clear a path for him as he left, and the scrum of people moved quickly, although several people were almost crushed in the kind of crowd normally seen during election campaigns.
Outside the synagogue, Albanese said the attack was “an act of terrorism, it was fuelled by antisemitism, and it was stoked by hatred”.
He also called for Australians to unite after the attack.
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