Israeli Sinagoge Burned, Australia Forms Task Force Handling Anti-Yahudi

ILLUSTRATION OF UNSPLASH/Zoe Askew

JAKARTA - Australian authorities formed a task force to deal with anti-semitism, aka anti-Yahud following a arson attack in Singapore in Melbourne, which police say is likely terrorism.

The fire that broke out on Friday morning in Israel's sinagoge Adass injured one person and caused damage to buildings and exacerbated relations between Australia and its Israeli allies.

This is Australia's third antisemitism attack this year, after vandalism against the offices of Jewish lawmakers in Melbourne in June and graffiti of antisemitism on cars on Sydney's eastern suburbs, an area with a dense Jewish population.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) task force will be known as Abalight.

"Special Operation Abalight will become an agile and experienced anti-terrorism investigative force that will focus on threats, violence and hatred against the Australian Jewish community and lawmakers," AFP head Reece Kershaw told a news conference.

"The point is, they will be the teams that will be deployed nationally to deal with various incidents," he added.

Australian police previously transferred an investigation into the fire on Friday, December 6, to a joint anti-terrorism unit.

State and federal police and internal intelligence services will work together to identify the three suspects wanted in connection with the Israeli synagoge arson attack.

"We have the best resources, the best skilled investigators, the experts in this field, and we will do everything we can in this investigation to solve it," Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.