‘We’ll be here all day and night’: Melbourne police pleads with person of interest in Rabbi car arson case to contact them

Days after the deadly terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, a car with festive decoration was torched on Thursday (Dec 25). The car belonging to a local Rabbi had a ‘Happy Chanukah’ sign. The incident happened in Melbourne about 3 am on the day of Christmas, prompting his family to flee from their St Kilda East home as the unoccupied vehicle burned. The police have launched an investigation into the incident and identified a person of interest.

The arson attack has sparked strong criticism from the Jewish community in Australia, which has called the incident an “antisemitic attack”. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Ministry has accused officials of “turning a blind eye to incitement”.

On Friday (Dec 26), investigators urged John Argento, a person of interest named in the arson attack, to contact the police. The 47-year-old has been described by the police as being 185 centimetres tall with a thin build, blue eyes and grey hair.

According to the officers, he lived in a transient lifestyle in Melbourne's inner north and south and may currently be sleeping rough, ABC reported. The police added that he has an outstanding arrest warrant against him for stealing a credit card. Investigators will also question him regarding a broken vehicle near the arson attack about 20 minutes later.

The incident is being seen as a targeted attack, although the police do not believe that there is a broader threat to the Jewish community.

Assistant Commissioner Chris Gilbert told reporters “the most important thing” was to determine the motive for the attack and “make sure the community doesn't live in fear as a result of this incident.”

“Our responsibility at this stage is to make sure we don’t take anything off the table,” he said. “We look at it, and certainly, if it was racially or religiously motivated, we will follow that angle.”

“We are here in numbers. We are here to support them,” Assistant Commissioner Gilbert added. “We’ll be here all day and night, but we want to bring this matter to a close quickly, for certainty for the community.”