A man is behind bars for allegedly making antisemitic threats to people walking to their Sunny Isles Beach temple during the Jewish holiday over the weekend.
Sunny Isles Beach Police said 47-year-old Yudel Antonio Herrero was arrested in the case. He’s being charged with disturbing a religious assembly. StopAntisemitism shared the incident and identity of the perpetrator to Twitter.
South Florida - Yudel Herrero has been arrested after yelling antisemitic remarks outside of the Chabad Jewish Center in Sunny Isles, FL during Sukkot.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 3, 2023
Herrero is facing charges of disturbing a religious assembly as well as a hate crime.
Sukkot, the week-long Jewish holiday… pic.twitter.com/nIC8pKnmsX
The incident happened Saturday near Chabad Lubavitch of Sunny Isles Beach and the arrest was made Sunday.
According to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, Herrero used antisemitic speech towards those entering the synagogue and disrupted the services by standing outside and blowing a shofar, or ram’s horn, in an attempt to drown out the prayers of the worshipers.
The incident happened as the Jewish holiday Sukkot was underway.
“There is no place in our community, or any community, for those who revel in spouting hate," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "Individuals who feel that they have license to desecrate the religious ceremonies and sentiments of Shabbat services and to desecrate the Holiday of Sukkot are in for a surprise. Neither my prosecutors, the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department nor the law enforcement community of Miami-Dade County will allow that to happen.”