New taskforce to tackle hate after anti-Semitic attacks

NEW ANTI-HATE TASKFORCE

* Assigned with tackling hateful behaviour and looking at the bigger picture across Victoria

* Members will include the premier, police minister, Victoria Police, the Melbourne lord mayor and Jewish community voices, with more stakeholders to be added

* Initial meeting this week will be about getting advice from Victoria Police on how anti-vilification laws will be put into operation

* Taskforce will update the premier on progress from local meetings with the Jewish community

* It will also update on the progress of community consultations and legislation for increased police powers to stamp out extreme and violent protest

* It will build on anti-vilification laws, greater police powers to come into effect and the work on legislation to ban masks at protests

MELBOURNE'S ALLEGED ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS:

East Melbourne Hebrew Synagogue

* Firebombed on Friday night with 20 worshippers inside for a Shabbat dinner

* A man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door and set it alight

* Angelo Loras, a 34-year-old from Sydney's west, was arrested in Melbourne, with detectives investigating his intent and ideology

* He was charged with reckless conduct endanger life, criminal damage by fire, and possess a controlled weapon

CBD Israeli restaurant

* A group who splintered off from an earlier protest allegedly smashed a window, flipped tables and threw chairs outside Israeli restaurant Miznon in the Melbourne CBD on Friday night

* Protest organisers said the restaurant was targeted because it was part-owned by Israeli businessman Shahar Segal, a spokesman for a food aid group backed by Israel and the US

* A 28-year-old from Footscray was arrested for hindering police and released on summons

* Police chief commissioner Mike Bush will examine the police response to the protest outside the restaurant

Greensborough business

* Three cars and a wall were spray-painted outside a Greensborough business in Melbourne's northeast in the early hours of Saturday

* One vehicle was destroyed and two damaged after being set alight

* There were "inferences of anti-Semitism" and the business has been subjected to pro-Palestinian activity in the past year, police said

Elsternwick business

* Offenders used stencils to allegedly spray paint offensive images on pillars at a busy intersection and on walls in Elsternwick on Sunday

* Police have not established links between the incidents