A rabbi's car adorned with a 'Happy Chanukah' sign was deliberately firebombed outside his Melbourne home, igniting fresh fear and outrage in the city's Jewish community.
The early hours of Christmas Day saw a vehicle with a mobile billboard celebrating Hanukkah set ablaze in St Kilda East's Balaclava Road residential precinct. Emergency services responded to the scene at around 02:50 and extinguished the blaze before it spread to nearby properties. Residents were evacuated as a precaution, but, crucially, there were no reported injuries. Police have formally classified the incident as a suspicious fire and launched an active investigation. Detectives have identified a person who 'may be able to assist' with the inquiry, but have released few details about this individual as efforts to locate them continue.
