Source : the age
By Perry Duffin
A man has been arrested and charged with allegedly trying to burn down an inner Sydney synagogue after counter-terrorism police were called in to investigate the suspected antisemitic attack.
Two masked and hooded men were captured on CCTV spraying swastika symbols on the Newtown Synagogue before pouring clear accelerant on the building and lighting it on the evening of January 11.
The fire burnt itself out, but it was the second attack on a Sydney synagogue in two days, after another was targeted with graffiti referencing Adolf Hitler and swastikas in the southern suburb of Allawah.
Police from Strike Force Pearl, which includes counter-terrorism investigators, executed two search warrants on Tuesday evening at two homes on Pyrmont Bridge Road in Camperdown.
A 33-year-old man, picked up in the raids, was arrested and taken to St Vincent’s Hospital under police guard.
Police named the man as Adam Edward Moule.
Moule was taken to Surry Hills police station and charged with destroying property in company by fire, property damage in company, stolen goods and cultivating a prohibited plant.
He will appear in Downing Centre Local Court later on Wednesday.
Strike Force Pearl has now put nine people before the courts after a string of suspected antisemitic attacks across Sydney, particularly in the eastern suburbs where many Jewish residents live.
Antisemitic graffiti at the Newtown Synagogue.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Eight men and one woman are before the courts over fires at Bondi businesses, along with destroyed and damaged cars and homes in Woollahra over recent months.
The arrest follows an antisemitic attack on a childcare centre in Maroubra in the early hours of Tuesday morning in which a building was set alight and graffitied with an offensive slogan.
More to come
