Fifth Synagogue Fire in Sydney Unites Christians, Jews for Law

Christians and Jews joined in demanding national anti-hate laws as another Sydney synagogue went up in flames early Thursday morning, forcing 200 congregants to seek an alternative place to worship on the eve of Passover.

The Allawah synagogue in southwest Sydney sustained extensive damage. The fire, attributed to arson, was the fifth to hit Sydney synagogues in the past two months and the seventh countrywide.

Fel Prentice, president of the Orthodox congregation, called the campaign of arson and vandalism unprecedented in the history of Australian Jewry.

Only hours before the latest blaze, a delegation of Jewish community leaders met with Prime Minister Bob Hawke to urge legislation outlawing racial vilification and racial violence.

Leslie Caplan, who led the delegation on behalf of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said later that the attack on Allawah was further evidence that racism in this country must be confronted at the highest level.

The Rev. David Gill, secretary of the Australian Council of Churches, the largest Christian body in Australia, joined Caplan’s call. The council fully supports the introduction of anti-racist legislation, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Following his remarks, nearby churches offered use of their facilities to Jewish congregations whose synagogues were burned. There are four in Sydney alone. A fifth escaped damage when the security guard drove off arsonists, sustaining injuries in the process that required hospitalization.

Synagogues have been attacked in Newcastle and Melbourne as well.

Prime Minister Hawke is reported to have told his Jewish visitors that the Attorney General’s Office is studying various legislative models to deal with the problem.