Overview
- Police charged a 20-year-old man on Friday with arson, conduct endangering life and theft of a motor vehicle in the December 6, 2024 attack on Adass Israel Synagogue.
- Authorities say the three charged suspects broke into the Ripponlea synagogue, doused interiors with flammable liquid and set the buildings alight, causing major damage and one minor injury.
- The case is being led by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which says some people have lied to investigators and is urging witnesses to come forward.
- In August 2025 the government and ASIO publicly accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of directing this attack and a separate Sydney kosher-cafe arson; Tehran denies the claims and diplomats were expelled.
- The synagogue community plans to rebuild and keep the site closed until at least 2029, and the charges feed into a wider national response that includes a public inquiry into rising antisemitism and stepped-up security measures.