The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry has strongly condemned Sunday’s arson attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London, the third Jewish community site in that city to be targeted with violence in less than a week.

“In March, we saw the torching of four Jewish community ambu­lances in London which shocked and revolted all decent people”, said ECAJ President Daniel Aghion.  “Now we are seeing unchecked antisemitism plumb even lower depths, with vicious attacks on Jewish places of worship”.

All of the attacks prior to the Kenton incident were claimed by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islam­iyyah, which is linked to the theo­crat­ic dic­tat­or­ship in Iran. “The attempt to mask these attacks as political acts has been exposed as a lie.  They are mani­fest­a­tions of gross antisemitism from the murkiest depths of the corrupted souls of the per­pet­rat­ors.”  

“Worse will come if decisive action is not taken now to squash this ugly anti-Jewish racism and the evil forces promoting it”, Mr Aghion warned. “We saw this first-hand at Bondi Beach on December 14”.

“We express our total solid­ar­ity with our brothers and sisters in the British Jewish community.  We send them our love and our prayers and wish them strength. The Jewish people have stood at the forefront of humanity’s con­front­a­tion with the worst mani­fest­a­tions of evil in every epoch of history.  Whether we live in the UK or Australia, let the whole world know that we stand together.”