Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned on Saturday the “vile” and “antisemitic” attacks on a synagogue and an Israeli-owned restaurant in Melbourne the previous night and called on the Australian government to prevent similar acts in the future.

On Friday evening, a mob of pro-Palestinian protesters vandalized the Israeli-owned restaurant Miznon in Melbourne, just minutes after a nearby historic synagogue was targeted in an arson attack while worshippers were inside, Australian authorities said.

About 20 anti-Israel protesters stormed Miznon, owned by Israeli restaurateur Eyal Shani, at around 8:30 p.m. local time. The Herald Sun cited witnesses who said the mob chanted “Death to the IDF” — the same chant given a platform by rap duo Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury festival in England the previous weekend.

In a Hebrew-language statement released by his office on Saturday, Netanyahu said that the “vile antisemitic attacks—accompanied by chants of ‘Death to the IDF’ and an attempt to harm a house of worship—are serious hate crimes that must be uprooted at their source.”

“Israel will continue to........

© The Times of Israel