Alleged arsonist charged over fire at Australian synagogue

Australian government lawmaker Sarah Witty, center left, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, center, and Jewish government lawmaker Mark Dreyfus, center right, address the media outside the East Melbourne Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia Sunday, July 6, 2025, after someone set fire to the synagogue's front door two days earlier. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A man was charged Sunday over an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue in an apparent escalation of antisemitic violence in Australia’s second-most populous city.

Angelo Loras, 34, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court Sunday charged with arson, endangering life and property damage. He was also charged with possessing a “controlled weapon†on Saturday when he was arrested. The charge sheet does not say what that weapon was.

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