The Adass Israel Synagogue, founded in 1949 by Holocaust survivors from Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, is a cornerstone of Melbourne's Hasidic community.
It houses the Torah scrolls that were rescued from the fire and came from Europe and had been saved from the ravages of World War II.
In December, the synagogue was attacked and set on fire, amid a context in which antisemitic incidents quadrupled in the last year, rising from 495 cases in 2022-2023 to 2.062 between October 2023 and September 2024.
The attack on the Adass Israel synagogue marked a turning point for the Jewish community, which has criticized the government for its alleged inaction in the face of the rising tide of attacks.
Given this situation, just months before the national elections in Australia, both the government and the opposition have promised to rebuild the synagogue.
The ruling Labor Party announced on Tuesday a $30 million investment in rebuilding the temple, along with $1,2 million to strengthen security. It will also allocate $250.000 to restore the Torah scrolls damaged in the fire.
That same week, opposition leader Peter Dutton had already promised that, if he won the May elections, his party would allocate 35 million Australian dollars to restore the synagogue and pledged to combat antisemitism in universities and pass laws allowing the deportation of foreigners convicted of antisemitic crimes.