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Fresh calls for royal commission after suspected anti-Semitic firebombing in Melbourne
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Fresh calls for royal commission after suspected anti-Semitic firebombing in Melbourne

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Antisemitism should be treated as a public safety issue, a Jewish leader says, as authorities hunt for a suspect behind an alleged hate-related firebombing in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack.
There were no one in the car at the time, but the residents of the home had to be evacuated as a precaution.
Police are investigating the suspicious fire and have identified a person who may be able to assist in the investigation.

The attack was intended to scare Jews because they are visibly Jewish, said Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler has called for a royal commission into the latest suspected anti-Semitic attack in Melbourne. Source: MONKEY / James Ross

“After Bondi, and with the number of recent threats and investigations across the country, Australia must treat antisemitism as a public safety issue, not a niche community problem,” Leibler said.

A federal royal commission or equivalent national inquiry with real powers into the Bondi attack and the wider antisemitism crisis is the only way the nation can get truth, accountability and lasting reform, he said.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was briefed on the firebombing of a car used to spread Hanukkah and holiday cheer, which the “community rightly fears is an anti-Semitic incident”.

“This is not where any family, street or community deserves to wake up on Christmas Day in Australia,” Allan said on social media.
“We have a duty to this community: to ensure their families are safe and feel safe now, and in the long term, to work toward a serious effort to drive anti-Semitism and hate from our state.”

The incident comes after 15 people were killed when two suspected gunmen opened fire during Hanukkah celebrations on Bondi Beach on December 14.

‘Incomprehensible’: Prime Minister denounces attack

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the apparent firebombing was “incomprehensible”.

“What kind of evil ideology and thoughts would motivate someone at a time like this? We know there is an evil presence,” he said Thursday.

But Albanians have resisted calling a federal royal commission into the Bondi attack, instead supporting a NSW inquiry and prioritizing a faster but more limited review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Reforms on hate speech and a review of ministers’ powers to revoke or reject visas to sow division or potentially incite violence are also on the agenda.
The Victorian government has pledged to follow in NSW’s footsteps to tackle hate crime and give police the power to veto protests after terror attacks.

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