A coordinated wave of antisemitic attacks swept through Melbourne on Friday night, forcing Jewish worshippers to evacuate a historic synagogue while masked protesters terrorized diners at an Israeli restaurant just blocks away.

Around 20 Jewish families were celebrating Shabbat dinner at the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation when an unknown man entered the grounds on Albert Street at 8pm, poured flammable liquid on the front doors and set them ablaze. Security cameras captured the bearded suspect, described as Caucasian and in his 30s, fleeing on foot after the attack.

Rabbi Dovid Gutnick was inside when congregation members noticed suspicious movement on their security feed. Someone began ringing the doorbell, then smoke started entering the building.

“I feel like if we didn’t have a fire station on the corner and if we weren’t as vigilant as we had been training ourselves to be, it could have been a lot worse,” Rabbi Gutnick tells ABC News.

Meanwhile, roughly 20 masked protesters stormed the Miznon restaurant on Hardware Lane, chanting “Death to the IDF” while hurling chairs and food at windows as customers dined inside and outside. Police arrested a 28-year-old woman for hindering police and released her on summons.

In Greensborough, unknown offenders struck a Para Road business at 4:30am Saturday, setting three cars ablaze and spray-painting vehicles and building walls. One car was destroyed, two others moderately damaged.

Acting Commander Zorka Dunstan revealed the Greensborough business had been the target of pro-Hamas activity over the past year, leading police to suspect connections between all three incidents.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attacks as “cowardly” and “an act of violence and antisemitism.”

“It is to be hoped that the perpetrator is brought to justice urgently, and that he faces the full force of the law, and anyone involved in this attack faces the full force of the law,” Albanese said.

Police Minister Anthony Carbines announced federal resources were backing the investigation: “Those who think they can set fire to a place of worship overnight that is full of worshippers, that is a heinous act, a horrific act, a criminal act and people will be held to account for it.”

Friday’s synagogue attack marks the second arson targeting a Jewish place of worship in Melbourne since December, when two masked men destroyed the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea using accelerant spread throughout the building with brooms. That attack injured one worshipper and caused extensive damage. No charges have been filed despite ongoing counter-terrorism investigations.