Prime Minister Jacinta Allan was met with boos when she visited Adas Israel synagogue on Friday.
Ms Allan pledged $100,000 to help rebuild the Glen Era synagogue, describing the firebombing as a “vicious” and “anti-Semitic” attack.
Dismayed members of the Jewish community shouted “shame on Jacinta” when she announced the funding, forcing her to abruptly end her press conference.
The boos came after Ms Allan refused to declare the arson attack a form of domestic terrorism.
She said only that Victoria Police would not rule anything out.
Ms Allan did not comment on the government’s response to the repeated and ongoing anti-Semitic attacks over the past year.
“My focus today is on supporting the Jewish community, and over the past 14 months I have had many meetings and conversations… to offer support,” she said.
Ms Allan had been asked privately by a member of the media, as members of the Jewish community voiced their concerns.
Ms Allan was quickly dismissed at an abrupt end to the press conference.
Jewish leaders say their “fears were realised” when a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze on Friday morning in an alleged arson attack, and have condemned the state government for failing to stamp out an “unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism”.
Australian Jewish Executive Council president Alex Rivchin said the attack had “brought our community to new depths of grief”.
“For more than a year we have seen racist mobs disrupt the rights and freedoms of ordinary Australians”, he said. “Our security and standing in society has been eroded”. Zionist Victoria president Elise Shashna said the community had been sounding the alarm about rising anti-Semitism for more than a year before the fire.
“Since October last year, we have been warning that it was only a matter of time and that the platitudes of our government were not enough to combat the rising manifestations of anti-Semitism,” she said.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, described the attack as “a terrifying reminder that anti-Semitism is not a relic of the past but a growing threat that demands immediate action, not empty words.”
“Jews around the world are under siege… Australia is not immune to this real epidemic of Jew-hatred,” he told an event in Canberra.
“This is no longer an empty promise, as the evils I promised to prevent are happening again.”
Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Naomi Levin said the community’s fears had been “realised.”
“We were absolutely shocked, but not surprised, to hear that a synagogue here in Melbourne was attacked overnight,” she said.
“We pray for the full recovery of those who were injured and hope that the police find the perpetrators of this terrible attack.”
She said the Jewish community had been “warning of an unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism for over a year.”
“We hoped this would never happen, but our fears were realised today,” she said.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler also said “no one should be surprised” by the violent attack.
“The petrol bomb attack on a Melbourne synagogue appears to be another shocking escalation of the hatred we have seen brazenly displayed on the streets of Melbourne every week for over a year,” he said.
“No one should be surprised; this violent attack is a direct result of words turning into action.”
“Jewish hatred, if left unchecked, puts all Australians at risk.
“Enough is enough – this is a stain on our nation.”
“It is time for all levels of government to turn their words into action to stamp out Jew-hatred.”
Meanwhile, the Victorian Multicultural Commission’s Interfaith Advisory Group, which represents 29 faith and cultural community organisations, said it was “deeply shocked and appalled” by the incident as it pledged to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community.
Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said the Jewish community had spent more than a year “warning the Albanian government that its actions were fuelling anti-Semitism and leading to attacks on Jews.”
“Anti-Semitism has been on the rise under Labor and social cohesion has been destroyed.
“Now is not the time for Labor MPs to use the Jewish community as a photo opportunity.
“It is time to apologise and change the disgraceful policies that have fuelled anti-Semitism in Australia.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the arson attack on the Riponlea Synagogue as “clearly anti-Semitic”.
Albanese said he “unequivocally condemned” the attack and said the Australian Federal Police would be deployed to assist Victorian authorities in their investigation into the arson.
“This is an attack on a place of worship, a synagogue… by definition, this is an act of hate and it is something that should not happen in Australia or anywhere else,” he said.

Editor’s view

I have not found any politician who dares to tell the truth. They all say this is an act of hate or anti-Semitism.
None dared to say it was an act of terrorism and the perpetrators deserved to be deported from Australia.
After they were sentenced to prison.
But why are politicians afraid to call these criminal acts terrorist acts?
The reason for this is that 90% of terrorist acts in the world are linked to Muslims and their justification is found in Islamic law, whether in the Quran or the hadiths.
In the Quran in Surah At-Tawbah, verse 82: “You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers to be the Jews and those who associate others with Allah.”
And in verse 29: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah and do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden and do not adopt the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture (i.e. the Jews and Christians) until they pay the jizyah willingly and feel themselves subdued.”