Manufacturing Moral Panic: Melbourne Attacks Likely Have Nothing to do with Antisemitism

An East Melbourne synagogue was subjected to an arson attack at around 8 pm last Friday night, 4 July 2025, and while details remain sketchy, many people living on Gadigal land in Sydney are questioning the legitimacy of the intent behind it, while others are fuming about the antisemitic attack on a place of worship being conflated with other incidents in opposition to the Gaza genocide.

On 6 July, detectives from the Victoria police counterterrorism unit charged 34-year-old Iranian man Angelo Loras, who lived on Dharug land in the Sydney suburb of Toongabbie, with multiple offences. But even with the fact that he’s described himself as Iranian online, and Israel, a Jewish nation, recently illegally attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran, people are still stumped about his motives.

Loras is said to have been captured on CCTV footage, emerging from Parliament Gardens on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung land, before entering the grounds of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue, and dousing its doors in flammable liquid and setting them on fire.

The gravity of this attack was made all the more severe by the fact that 20 congregants were inside at the time of the fire, and they had to escape out the backdoor of the synagogue.

The doubt some Sydneysiders hold in respect of the arson attack on the synagogue in Naarm-Melbourne is due to this city having been rocked last summer by a series of “antisemitic” arson and graffiti attacks, which, after terrorising the Jewish community, turned out to be staged by organised criminals in order to gain an advantage in dealing with police on unrelated criminal matters.

So, while much of the mainstream media has conflated the synagogue attack with a protest against a restauranteur and a third matter that occurred in Melbourne in the space of one night, which has had the effect of casting all as being antisemitic, the spectre of someone from the pro-Palestinian movement attacking a synagogue has been conjured, despite Loras not appearing to be part of it.

Questionable intent

Loras appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court last Sunday. No bail application was made, and he’d been charged with four serious criminal offences: reckless conduct endangering life, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, criminal damage by fire and possessing a controlled weapon. The Toongabbie man will be back before the court on 22 July.

But questions are abounding as to why the man, who has described himself as a “single, Iranian forklift driver” and “music lover” on social media platform X, would have travelled down to Melbourne to carry out an attack on a synagogue, while The Australian has confirmed that Loras’ made no mention of the recent Israel-Iran conflict or the Gaza genocide in posting online.

A perusal of Loras’ Instagram account finds multiple selfies with noted symbols suggesting an interest in the European Middle Ages. The 34-year-old appears with sword earrings in a number of images, along with a gargoyle and a crown appearing amongst the mix, and in one photo, the now remanded inmate is seen to be wearing a shirt with a runic symbol upon it.

So, as Loras’ online presence doesn’t hint at him being a pro-Palestinian or of his harbouring hatred towards Jews, doubts about his intent remain, especially when considering that Sydney underwent a supposed antisemitic crimewave last summer, involving numerous attacks committed by poor gig criminals, who did it for the money, and none of whom held “any form of antisemitic ideology”.

Manufacturing moral panic

Two other incidents occurred over the weekend in Naarm that had a focus on the Gaza genocide: one involved a group of antigenocide activists demonstrating outside an Israeli-owned restaurant in regard to the part owner of the establishment being the face of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whilst the other event involved an arson attack upon the premises of a weapons manufacturer.

Both of these incidents have been conflated with the synagogue arson attack in some mainstream media reports. The issue with this is an attack on a synagogue is undoubtedly antisemitic regardless of intent, however protests and criminal acts perpetrated in the name of opposing the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza have nothing to do with the religion those committing genocide adhere to.

The first incident involved a demonstration against the Gaza genocide outside of Miznon restaurant in Melbourne’s Hardware Lane, which is part run by Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal. And as the autonomous activists conducting the demonstration have explained online, the raucous brawling in that resulted, was sparked by employees from Max’s restaurant across the laneway.

The reason behind protesting Segal is he had agreed to be the spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is a privately-owned US-Israeli aid operation that replaced UN aid provider UNRWA, but is increasingly reported to be a front to continue the genocide in Gaza, as Israeli soldiers have reported being ordered to shoot at Palestinians seeking the food it offers.

The second incident conflated with the arson attack on the synagogue occurred on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung land in the Melbourne suburb of Greensborough at 4.30 am on Saturday, 5 July, and it involved an arson attack on three vehicles at a premises and spray paint on a wall, of which Victoria police has been reluctant to release details, yet has said involved “some inferences to antisemitism”.

But as Jan Fran revealed on Tuesday, during her co-hosted podcast with Antionette Lattouf, We Used to be Journos, this third incident in question took place at “Lovitt Technologies, which is a weapons company… with links to Israel.” And the well-known journalist added that of the three incidents that have been described as attacks against Jewish people, two were aimed at Israel’s Gaza genocide.

Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism

Right now, there is a McCarthyite fear campaign being staged that conflates criticism of Israel and Zionism, the settler colonial political doctrine that advocates for the creation of the state of Israel upon historic Palestine, with antisemitism, which is the hate that saw the Nazi Germany and its accomplices murder 6 million Jewish people during World War II.

But as Federal Court Justice Angus Stewart recently outlined as part of his 1 July 2025 final findings into the case Wertheim versus Haddad, “The ordinary, reasonable listener would understand that not all Jews are Zionists or support the actions of Israel in Gaza and that disparagement of Zionism constitutes disparagement of a philosophy or ideology and not a race or ethnic group”.

So, to put it more plainly, Justice Stewart found that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, which means criticism of, protests against or even criminal acts perpetrated in the name of opposing apartheid Israel’s 21-month-long genocide that it has been carrying out against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, does not indicate any harbouring of prejudice against those of the Jewish faith.

The image of remandee Angelo Loras was taken from his Instagram Page