{"id":6894,"date":"2025-12-26T01:10:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=6894"},"modified":"2025-12-26T01:10:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:10:40","slug":"victoria-police-name-man-they-want-to-interview-in-relation-to-happy-chanukah-car-fire-in-st-kilda-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=6894","title":{"rendered":"Victoria police name man they want to interview in relation to \u2018Happy Chanukah\u2019 car fire in St Kilda | Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Victoria police have named a man they want to interview in relation to a suspected arson attack<\/a> on a car sporting a \u201cHappy Chanukah\u201d sign in Melbourne on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

Police said emergency services were called to a vehicle displaying a mobile billboard that had been set alight in the driveway of a property in St Kilda East about 2.50am on Thursday.<\/p>\n

On Friday they named 47-year-old John Argento as \u201ca person who may be able to assist with their investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Victoria police said Argento was known to police and had an outstanding arrest warrant relating to other matters.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDetectives believe Argento lives a transient lifestyle. He is known to frequent Melbourne\u2019s inner southern and northern suburbs,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetectives are treating this arson as a targeted attack but there is no indication that Argento poses as a specific risk to the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one was inside the car at the time of the incident but the occupants of the house were evacuated as a precaution, police said.<\/p>\n

The Victoria police assistant commissioner for the southern metro region, Chris Gilbert, said at this stage he did not believe there was a broader threat to the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the devastating impact this type of [alleged] offence has on our Jewish community and we are continuing to prioritise this investigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said on Thursday she had been briefed by police on the St Kilda incident.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is not what any family, street or community deserves to wake up to on Christmas Day in Australia,\u201d she said on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a duty to this community: to ensure their families are safe and feel safe right now, and to work long-term in a serious effort to drive anti-Semitism and hate out of our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident comes less than two weeks after 15 people were killed in a mass shooting that targeted Jews celebrating the holiday of Hanukah at Sydney\u2019s Bondi beach.<\/p>\n