A widely condemned arson attack on a synagogue has been called domestic terrorism and an act of anti-Semitism which goes against everything Australia has worked to build as a nation.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blaming the attack on the federal government supporting an end to the Jewish state's occupation of Gaza was a baseless and desperate attempt at dividing and scapegoating, Palestine advocates said.
It is impossible to separate the reprehensible arson attack from the Labor government's "extreme anti-Israeli position," Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday.
"Including the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel 'to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible'," he wrote on X.
"The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an abhorrent act of antisemitism."
The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network said any attack on a place of worship was an unacceptable act of hate via social media.
Yet it accused Mr Netanyahu of seeking to sow division as a distraction from his government's actions.
Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg insisted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese set up a police task force devoted to stamping out anti-Semitism and declare the Ripponlea attack a terrorist act.
“This is not about other forms of hate, this is not about Islamophobia,” he told reporters.
A minister in Victoria's Labor government, Melissa Horne, declined to comment on Mr Netanyahu's statement, stressing that it was important to support Jewish and Muslim communities amid distress and despair stemming from conflict in the Middle East.
The synagogue had two of its three buildings gutted after suspected masked intruders allegedly broke in and set the premises alight in the early hours of Friday.
Two congregants preparing for morning prayers evacuated, with one sustaining minor injuries.
Terrorism has not been ruled out after the suspects poured accelerant on the floor inside the synagogue and set it on fire before fleeing, police said.
The advocacy network's president Nasser Mashni said Australia's support for international law was not to blame.
“Netanyahu’s attempt to cast Australia as ‘anti-Semitic’ for its opposition to illegal occupation and apartheid is a shameless distraction from his government’s crimes against humanity in Palestine," he said in a statement.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.
Mr Mashni said Mr Netanyahu had no standing to lecture Australia on morality or justice.
The Victorian government condemned the viscous attack on a synagogue at the heart of the Jewish community, Ms Horne said.
"It's pretty hard to say this is not an anti-Semitic act," she said.
The state's deputy opposition leader David Southwick called it domestic terrorism via X.
Israel President Isaac Herzog said he firmly condemned the arson when he spoke to Mr Albanese on Friday.
The attack on the synagogue, built by Holocaust survivors, has been widely condemned across political and religious lines.
Mr Albanese said he had no tolerance for anti-Semitism and federal police would provide resources to Victorian authorities.
"This deliberate, unlawful attack goes against everything we are as Australians and everything we have worked so hard to build as a nation," he said in a statement.
