Rupert Murdoch has been praised as a “man of action, not just words” after visiting a firebombed synagogue in Melbourne.

The media mogul, his wife Elena Zhukova and News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt visited the blackened remains of Adass Israel temple on Thursday.

Murdoch said it was “extremely disturbing” that such “evil” could happen in the suburbs of Melbourne.

“Elena and I were deeply moved during our visit to the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea,” he told a News Corp reporter.

“We felt it was important to pay our respects and show solidarity with the Jewish community after such an appalling terror attack on a place of worship.

“To think such an evil act can happen in the suburbs of Melbourne is extremely disturbing.”

Murdoch pledged to stand against hatred.

He added that antisemitism had “no place in Australia, or anywhere in the world”.

Victorian Rabbinical Council president Rabbi Moshe Kahn told News Corp that Murdoch’s visit was “deeply heartening”.

“We have witnessed the worst of humanity, but equally, when individuals stand up, we see the best of humanity – and we have seen so much of that,” he said.

“For Rupert to have visited the synagogue, to have walked around, and to have shown genuine interest, was deeply heartening.

“It showed that he’s a man of action and not just words.”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was heckled when he visited the synagogue, four days after it was attacked.

The Adass Israel Synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne’s southeast was set alight with people inside in a pre-dawn attack last Friday, destroying the building.

Then in the early hours of Wednesday, a Jewish community in Sydney was the target of a hate crime, with graffiti including “Kill Israiel” (sic) sprayed on buildings and footpaths and a car torched.

Albanese on Wednesday defended taking four days to visit the synagogue, saying he spoke with the Adass Israel president the same day and had been talking with the wider community and authorities the entire time.

Albanese said the antisemitic “evil” had sent shivers down the spine of the nation.

“That disgraceful act of burning of a synagogue sent shivers down the spine of all Australians,” he said on Wednesday.

“We’re a tolerant country, we’re a country that is based upon respect for each other.

“The damage to the Torah that has been done is something that is just not what you would expect in a country like Australia.”

He said he was quick to declare it a terrorist event in his view.

“As prime minister, it’s difficult to have personal views, you have to follow protocols,” Albanese said.

“But I made it clear, in my view, it was a terrorist event.

“I was very engaged with the Adass community.”

Angry community members jeered the prime minister as he visited the synagogue on Tuesday, four days after the attack.

As he was leaving a woman called out: “Your words are cheap and late”, and “You are late. You let this happen, buddy”.

Another asked if he was “going to the Australian Open”, referring to Albanese playing tennis at the weekend.

Adass Israel members are using a nearby school’s synagogue.

A full reconstruction of the destroyed synagogue could take years despite an outpouring of community donations and government funding.

Albanese has committed to funding for the synagogue’s rebuild and the restoration or replacement of scrolls damaged in the fire.

-with AAP