CNN
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Firefighters are putting out a blaze at a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia on Friday which authorities believe was deliberate.
No one was injured in the fire that started at about 4am local and caused significant damage to the Adass Israel Synagogue, according to Victoria police, who are investigating the incident.
“We believe it was deliberate. We believe it was targeted,” Arson and Explosives Squad Detective Inspector, Chris Murray told reporters. “We don’t know the motive yet.”
Police say a witness told them two masked men were spreading accelerant inside the building.
In an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that police are reviewing CCTV footage and there are two persons of interest.
He added that it is “terrible to awake to this news which all Australians should unequivocally condemn. This is an outrage. The violence and intimidation and destruction at a place of worship is something that we should never see in Australia.”
An attack on a synagogue is an “act of antisemitism by definition,” Albanese added.
This is a developing story.
