Man Arrested in Antisemitic Attack Outside Georgetown Synagogue

A man was arrested in an antisemitic attack outside a D.C. synagogue on Sunday. 

Officers arrested Brent Wood for allegedly shouting an antisemitic phrase and spraying a foul-smelling substance on two people outside the Kesher Israel Congregation on N Street in Georgetown just before 9:30 a.m.

Sources told News4 that the suspect was yelling, “Gas the Jews."

The victims were not physically hurt.

Wood, whose last known address is in Toledo, Ohio, is charged with simple assault and resisting arrest.

 Police are investigating the incident as a hate or bias-motivated crime.

Maryland Police Investigating Vandalism at Synagogue

Police in Baltimore are investigating recent vandalism at a synagogue as a possible hate crime.

The incident happened overnight Sunday into Monday at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation in Pikesville, synagogue officials said on Thursday.

Rabbi Andrew Busch said two signs at the corner of Park Heights Avenue and Slade Avenue were slashed. The signs said "We stand with the people of Israel" and "Bring the hostages home."

The synagogue’s facilities and operations coordinator, Edwin Chittum, said he found the signs vandalized around 6 a.m. Monday morning.

I don’t know who would want to be out in that weather on Sunday night, it was nasty outside,” said Chittum. “It took somebody that was nasty to come out in nasty weather to do that.”

Busch told WBFF that it’s possible the vandals were trying to send a message as the crime was committed during Hanukkah.

“I think someone clearly slashed with some anger," said Busch.

The signs were replaced during a public gathering outside of the synagogue on Thursday morning.

“It was very disturbing getting that phone call [Monday morning],” said Busch. “I have to be honest given the atmosphere in this country, it was disturbing, not totally shocking.”

According to Baltimore County Police, there were 125 hate/bias cases between January 2023 and November 2023; there were 93 hate/bias cases throughout all of 2022.

Colorado Synagogue Receives Bomb Threat

On Saturday, December 16, at approximately 8:30 a.m., police responded to a bomb threat at Congregation Har HaShem on Baseline Road in Boulder. After inspecting and clearing the area, no threats were detected and there is no active risk to public safety.

The bomb threat was sent to Har HaShem via an email that was also sent to multiple other Jewish synagogues in the surrounding area.

Boulder Police worked together with the Boulder County Sherriff’s Office to clear the building. No threats were detected in or around the building.

“Fortunately, we were able to respond quickly to this threat. We are glad to report that no bomb was found and nobody was hurt,” said Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold.

The FBI has been informed of the threat. This incident is now part of an ongoing investigation. Anyone who has any information related to this incident should call the non-emergency dispatch line at 303-441-3333.

Kanye Filmed Going on Another Antisemite Tirade

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, made antisemitic remarks again in an expletive-laden rant in which he also blasted his former business partners, Donald Trump and talked about his co-parenting situation with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

“It’s 60 million of us in America, 60 million Jews in the world,” he screamed in a video widely circulated on social media and obtained by TMZ. In reality, there are only 15 million Jewish people worldwide.

Ye, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, then ranted about how he has visitation with his four children. “Jesus Christ, Hitler, Ye. Third party. Sponsor that. ... Bring your sponsorships to that,” he said. “I don’t give a f--- n----. I don’t give a f--- about life or death, I got visitation with my kids. I ain’t got no say-so.”

The rapper made the remarks early Friday morning while he was in Las Vegas. At other points in the footage, Ye told people in the crowd to “shut up” when they tried to speak over him and threatened to kick someone out of the room.

“Ain’t none of y’all n----- with me. I’m by my f---ing self ’cause ain’t none of y’all n----- stand up for me,” he said as one woman interrupted him and said, “You ain’t God, n----.”

“Shut up,” Ye said. “Be quiet before you get X’d out. Nobody with me.”

Ye, who was a past supporter of former President Donald Trump, also made reference to Trump’s current legal battles. “Because you got a mug shot, you with us now? No ... what you gonna do for us?” he asked.

The rapper has faced backlash in the past over his antisemitic remarks, resulting in his Twitter and Instagram accounts being suspended and companies including Adidas, Balenciaga and the prominent talent agency CAA cutting ties with him.

Jewish Congregation in Alabama Part of Nationwide Bomb Threat Hoax

An official with the congregation said he was sent an email from their rabbi indicating there was a bomb threat at Congregation Mayim Chayim and several other synagogues across Alabama. They contacted the Sheriff’s office after 7 Saturday morning. They had given the all-clear by 9:30.

A news release from the BCSO indicates this may have been part of a nationwide bomb threat hoax. Service was held as planned.

Officials in Daphne are investigating the report of a bomb threat at a synagogue made at some time Saturday morning. There is police activity near the intersection of County Road 64 and Austin Road. Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack confirms in a message to News 5 there was a bomb threat made against a synagogue.

That intersection is near Belforest and east of Highway 98. Congregation Mayim Chayim is located there. News 5 has a crew on the way and once we have more information we’ll continue to update this story.

Activists have noted a rise in antisemitic incidents this year.

Dossier Shows College Failing to Prevent Antisemitism

Jewish students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) accuse the college of failing to stop antisemitic acts from a campus group who vandalized a holocaust display and openly declared support for terror group Hamas.

A dossier compiled by MIT students and shared with The Post shows evidence of racist behavior dating back to October 2022 — a year before the Hamas terror attack on Israel, largely perpetrated by the led by the Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA).

According to the documents, CAA hosted Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd as a speaker on campus that month, despite him having already declared on X he hoped all Israeli soldiers would die “in the most torturous and slow ways”. 

“I hope that they see their mother’s suffering (not that these conscienceless pigs would care),” El-Kurd added in the 2021 post.

The papers obtained by The Post say CAA ignored strong opposition from Jewish students who raised their concerns ahead of time. 

“In his speech at MIT, El-Kurd targeted Israeli students on campus, falsely claiming that there were students who had tied up and gassed Palestinian children during their service in the Israel Defense Forces,” according to an eyewitness.

Two days after appearing at MIT, El-Kurd went on to speak at Harvard, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.

The MIT students also reported CAA members defaced a Holocaust display on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, by scrawling “Free Palestine” slogans over it, then “proudly posted [it] on their Instagram account” in April this year.

They claimed the social media posts of the group had most recently, “unequivocally supported, justified, and glorified the terrorism committed by Hamas”.

CAA and MIT did not respond to The Post when contacted for comment about the allegations on Thursday.

“Coalition Against Apartheid is a student group at MIT focused on advancing anti-colonial and anti-apartheid organizing on campus,” its site reads.

“We support the liberation of all peoples, with a focus on the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

“In addition to working for administrative and institutional change, we hold events on campus that range from social to educational.”

Separately, the dossier also called out MIT Postdoctoral Associate Afif Aqrabawi for allegedly claiming in a tweet that Zionism is a “mental illness”, and suggesting Israeli soldiers have been “organ harvesting” from the bodies of dead Palestinians.

“Aqrawabi has been posting extreme anti-Zionist, antisemitic rhetoric and blood libel,” the document said.

But Aqrabawi told The Post the allegations against him were merely a failed attempt to silence him “from speaking the truth” because he is “a Palestinian speaking out against the active genocide occurring in Gaza”.

“As a Palestinian, I am inherently anti-Zionist by blood and I have no fear of vocalizing my attitudes against Zionist supremacists,” he said on Thursday.

“I have disgust towards antisemitism in general and believe Zionism itself is the greatest threat to Judaism.”

Agrabawi also doubled down on his claim that “Zionists steal…our dead bodies for organ harvesting”, citing an Al Jazeera report from 2009.

Several of his contentious tweets were reported to MIT by students who said the response from a member of the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) division was disappointing.

In an email seen by The Post, DEI described Aqrabawi’s tweets as “disturbing, inflammatory, and polarizing” but warned the person who reported them against accusing “any one of our colleagues, staff or trainees of hate speech”.

“The painful truth is that many people around us are grieving and many people’s lives and families are at stake,” the email read.

“And now more than ever (as a faculty member, an associate department head of DEIJ, and also as a Jew whose father was born and raised in Tel Aviv) I am committed to ensuring that those values include all possible compassion for each other’s intensity – and all gentleness for each other’s fragility.”

On Wednesday another protest was staged at MIT calling for a ceasefrie in Gaza, attended by around 150 people, both students and non-students.

Protester Safiyya Ogundioe, a 4th-year undergrad majoring in chemical engineering said she and her peers are protesting MIT’s “vested ties to Israel,” including alleged research funding from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Amidst chants she explained: “From the river to the sea…” simply means “freedom for all people, Palestinians and Jews, in the region, from the river to the sea,” a definition most Jewish people disagree with.

Students at the rally called IDF’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” and argued anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.

Israeli student Dana Rubin didn’t agree with the rally and said she had become more politically active since the Oct. 7th Hamas attack.

She said: “The dehumanization that [Jewish people] have been experiencing for the past 100 years has not gone away, it has just changed. Instead of being bad for ‘controlling the money,’ now we’re bad for being ‘white colonizers.’

“There’s a group of white liberals who think they understand what’s going on, but they have no idea, and they are more extreme, in my opinion, than the actual Palestinians I know,” she added.

Details of divisions at the school emerged after more than 700 MIT Jewish alumni and allies accused MIT of failing to condemn its President Sally Kornbluth, who is Jewish, for not taking enough action against antisemitism following her testimony on Capitol Hill last week.

“During the congressional testimony of December 5, 2023, President Kornbluth implied calls for genocide of Jews may not constitute bullying and harassment under MIT’s code of conduct, depending on context,” the letter to the school’s governing body, the MIT Corporation, read.

The university said in a statement to The Post: “MIT and our president, Sally Kornbluth, reject antisemitism in all its forms. Our senior leaders are working to stay focused on keeping campus safe and functioning.” 

In their letter, the MIT alumni called for “immediate and concrete” action from the institution, including “enforce meaningful consequences for the individuals who violate MIT’s rules, create an antisemitism-specific task force on campus, and publicly announce that calls for violence against civilians is grounds for expulsion and amend the MIT Code of Conduct to include this if necessary.”

In response, MIT said: “We recognize there are a range of deeply and sincerely held views across our nearly 30,000+ on-campus community and our wider MIT family beyond campus, including nearly 143,000 living alumni.” 

Harvard's Jewish Community Forced to Hide Menorah During Hannukah

The Chabad House at Harvard University has consistently been asked by the university to hide the hanukkiah it lights on campus on each night of Hanukkah due to fears of vandalism, Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, the rabbi of the Chabad House, said in an address on Wednesday night.

"The eyes of the world are upon us, everyone is looking at Harvard now. It pains me to have to say, sadly, that Jew hate and antisemitism is thriving on this campus," said Zarchi ahead of the lighting of the hanukkiah.

During a Hanukkah candle lighting on Tuesday night at the university, as Prof. Steven Pinker spoke about his family's history in the Kishinev pogrom and the Holocaust, a woman screamed at the gathering, "all your history is fake! F for fake!"

Zarchi recalled that Harvard President Claudine Gay had told Jewish students at a Shabbat dinner that Harvard "pledges to have your back."

"We didn't feel it last night," said the rabbi in reference to the verbal attack during Pinker's remarks. "There was no one watching over us and there's been yet no voice condemning what happened."

Zarchi added that on Wednesday morning, he met with the other chaplains at the university, saying "26 years I've given my life to this community, I've never felt so alone." 

The rabbi noted that his colleagues had said during the meeting that they wanted to be more relevant on campus.

"You want to be more relevant? You had your moment. When the faculty failed us, when leadership wasn't speaking as it should have, the chaplains could have made themselves relevant, have been the moral voice," said Zarchi. 

The rabbi expressed shock that when he suggested to his colleagues that they could become more relevant by condemning the October 7 attack and defend the Jewish community against calls of intifada which were made on campus, he was attacked and told he was "misrepresenting what the intifada means."

The rabbi also noted that the tradition of lighting the hanukkiyah in Harvard Yard first began 24 years ago, when a student named Aviva Preminger asked the dean if the Jewish students at the university could light the hanukkiah on campus.

"His initial answer was no, it can't happen because at Harvard we don't have religious symbols in the Yard. So she looked out his office and took a peek to the church. To his credit, [the dean] gave a big smile and said 'Aviva, go put up your menorah.'"

"That was a great moment, but there's something that I never spoke about publicly but this bothers me to this very day. Do you know what happens to this menorah? After everyone leaves the Yard, we're gonna pack it up. We have to hide it somewhere. The university since that first Hanukkah would not allow us to keep this menorah here overnight because there's fear that it will be vandalized."

"Think about that. On our campus, we in the Jewish community are instructed 'we'll let you have the menorah, you made your point. Pack it up, don't leave it out overnight, because there'll be criminal activity, we fear, and it won't look good.'"

"You know when change is going to happen on this campus? When we don't have to pack up the menorah. When the current dean of students is not able to tell me last Shabbat over dinner that a student confides in him that he looks in his mirror before he leaves his dorm room to ensure that there's nothing on his physical appearance that gives away the fact that he's a Jew. That's the reality of the Jewish community at Harvard today."

The president of Harvard took part in the candle lighting on Wednesday night, with Zarchi saying that from the first time he met Gay, he was "touched by her warmth and generosity."

The rabbi noted a conversation he had with Gay the year before around Hanukkah about the situation on campus, adding "it's my hope that we can work together with you...we in the Jewish community are longing for the day...when Harvard not only has our back and not only finally allows us to put up a menorah, but doesn't force us to hide it at night and when you witness hateful calls for the death of Jews, you don't walk by and say nothing. You speak, you don't remain silent."

"We're hopeful, but we know hope is not enough. We commit to doing all we can, together, to ensure a brighter and more illuminating, a warmer and more loving tomorrow," concluded Zarchi.

New Jersey High School Bathroom Vandalized with Antisemitic Graffiti

Maplewood police received reports of antisemitic graffiti at a local high school.

School and law enforcement officials are now looking into who vandalized a bathroom stall at Columbia High School.

Maplewood's Township Committee called the graffiti unacceptable and intolerable.

Multiple Bomb Threats Called into Jewish Temples in Mississippi

Bomb threats were called into Jewish temples Thursday morning, Dec. 14 in Columbus and Tupelo.

At 9:18, the City of Columbus reported a bomb threat at the Temple B’nai Israel on Second Avenue North.

Police combed the area and found nothing, according to city spokesman Joe Dillon. Outside traffic is back to normal.

Something similar happened at the Temple B'Nai Israel on Marshall Street in Tupelo. Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka said officers swept the temple and found no threat.

Threats were also called into multiple airports across the country, including the Tupelo Regional Airport. It's unclear if the temple threats and airport threats are somehow connected.

Antisemitic Letters Sent to Several Corte Madera Councilmembers Homes

Antisemitic letters were sent to the homes of several Corte Madera councilmembers, days after several people logged onto to a teleconferenced council meeting to express hate-filled statements, a town official said.

Mayor Eli Beckman said he was among the elected leaders who received a letter at his home on Saturday. Beckman is Jewish.

The incident followed a Dec. 5 Town Council meeting in which a half dozen people logged on and made racist, antisemitic and homophobic comments. The commenters did not turn on their cameras and did not identify themselves.

Beckman said he hoped to “speak out against hate” after receiving the letter. He said two other council members also received the letter. He declined to name them.

“I don’t want to give the false impression that this was targeted to me as an individual Jew, but it is very scary,” Beckman said. “But the message that I want to share though is that this is not cause for panic, but this is cause for resolve.”

He said he reported the incident to the Central Marin Police Authority and the FBI.

“I feel like what we need to be doing as a society is calling out and rejecting hate,” Beckman said.

During the council meeting, Beckman read from a written statement, indicating that the comments violated the council’s rules.

“It is against town policy to engage in verbal conduct that denigrates an individual because of their race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability or other protected category,” Beckman said. “I have stopped the clock on your comment. This is your warning.”

Town staff said they would halt comments that did not adhere to the topic or violated board rules.

“We have informed the public that we have a non-discrimination policy, that we will adhere to this policy and now every speaker is on notice. If you cannot adhere to our policy we will consider you to be in violation of the board rules and disrupting our meetings, so you will not get a second opportunity,” said Town Attorney Amy Ackerman during the meeting.

The Town Council made a unanimous motion to end public comment.

On Sept. 20, similar incidents were reported at meetings in Larkspur and Tiburon. Such incidents have also been reported in other municipalities in the Bay Area.

Multiple Arrests Made Across Europe Linked to a Hamas Terrorist Cell

Leaders and law enforcement officials in Israel, Denmark and Germany are expressing alarm after arresting multiple individuals across Europe allegedly linked to a Hamas-affiliated terrorist cell. 

The Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — in conjunction with German and Danish law enforcement — revealed Thursday the details of an operation that arrested multiple individuals in Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands accused of plotting terrorist attacks.

"Thanks to an intensive and comprehensive intelligence investigation, today Denmark security and enforcements [sic] arrested 7 terrorist operatives acting on behalf of the terrorist organization Hamas, and thwarted an attack aimed at killing innocent citizens on European soil," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

It continued, "In recent years, and even more so after the murderous attack on October 7, Hamas strives to expand its operational capabilities around the world — and in Europe in particular — in order to realize its ambitions to hit Israeli, Jewish and Western targets at any cost."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen previously told the press that police in Denmark had arrested several people allegedly linked to an "extremely serious" terrorist plot.

"It is absolutely true when both (Denmark's intelligence agencies) say that there is a high risk in Denmark," Frederiksen continued. 

Denmark's national terror threat level was raised to four — the second-highest classification.

German officials reported Thursday the arrest of three Hamas members within their own borders and one in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The individuals arrested by police in Berlin, Germany, were identified as Abdelhamid Al A and Ibrahim El-R from Lebanon, as well as Mohamed B from Egypt. Only the first letter of suspects' last names are provided, in accordance with German law.

"Following the terrible attacks by Hamas on the Israeli population, attacks on Jews in Jewish institutions have also increased in our country in recent weeks," German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said of the arrests. 

He added, "We must therefore do everything we can to ensure that Jews in our country do not have to fear for their safety again."

The Dutch national arrested by German police was identified as Nazih R and allegedly linked with the terrorist cell in Berlin.

A comprehensive report integrating the individual findings of all governments involved in the operations has not yet been released. 

Armed Man Trespasses Parisian Nursery and Threatens to Cut and Rape All Jews

France was hit yesterday with two Islamist armed threats against schools and nurseries just hours apart - the latest symptom of rising tensions following a spate of attacks. 

Staff at a nursery in the Parisian suburb of Creteil were confronted yesterday by a man brandishing a knife who threatened to kill and rape them before fleeing the scene on foot. 

Having sought out the director of Les minis Kids creche, the man approached her with a 15cm-long knife, prosecutors said, and declared: 'You're a Jew, you're a Zionist, five of us are going to come and rape you, cut you up like they did in Gaza,' in a dark and twisted threat. 

Prosecutors said they opened an investigation into the creche break-in and death threats based on 'race, ethnicity, nationality or religion'.

It came just hours after a 12-year-old schoolgirl was restrained by staff and detained by police after threatening her English teacher with a knife during class at a school in Rennes. 

Prosecutor Philippe Astruc said the girl later declared she wanted to carry out her attack 'like the one in Arras', referring to an extremist attack on October 13 in which teacher Dominique Bernard was stabbed to death at the northern French town's Gambetta high school.

The unsettling threats came less than a week after a French court convicted six teenagers for their role in the 2020 beheading of Samuel Paty outside his secondary school near Paris, after they helped to identify him to a radicalised Islamist.

Tensions have been rising in schools in France, which has large Muslim and Jewish communities.

Speaking on the attempted knife attack by the 12-year-old in Rennes yesterday, Astruc said the schoolgirl 'came to class armed with a large knife with the apparent intention of killing her English teacher.

'During the lesson, in class, she brandished the knife at the victim who fled running,' before the girl was disarmed by staff of the Hautes Ourmes junior high school, he added.

'The pupils, shocked, were immediately moved to safety,' the local education authority said.

At a press conference, Astruc showed drawings of a kitchen knife, which he said was 17 centimetres (6.7 inches) long.

The girl underwent psychiatric examinations in hospital which concluded that 'the minor was 'dangerous for herself' and that her condition required care in a specialised environment', Astruc said in a statement Wednesday.

The prosecutor had previously said it appeared the 'psychological or even psychiatric aspect' seemed 'dominant in the act' by the girl.

In a separate incident last week at Jacques Cartier school in Issou, west of Paris, a group of Muslim students threatened and accused a teacher of racism when she showed an Italian Renaissance painting that depicted nude women to the class. 

She was said to have feared for her life after her name was circulated on social media, as this prompted the extremist to target Paty in 2020. 

The students are said to have expressed outrage after the teacher showed the 17th century masterpiece - 'Diana and Actaeon' by the Italian painter Giuseppe Cesari - in an art class on Thursday.

The work portrays a Greek mythology story in which the hunter Actaeon bursts in at a site where the goddess Diana and her nymphs are bathing. It shows a naked Diana and four nude female companions, and is held at the Louvre museum in Paris. 

Last week a teacher in Issou, west of Paris, 'feared for her life' after she was lambasted on social media for showing students this Renaissance painting - 'Diana and Actaeon' by the Italian painter Giuseppe Cesari

A sign hung outside the school in Issou claimed that incidents at the school were up while resources to deal with them were in short supply

Fellow staff members refused to work on Monday in solidarity with the teacher, as Minister Gabriel Attal visited the school and said that a disciplinary procedure would be launched 'against the students who are responsible for this situation and who have also admitted the facts'.

Sophie Venetitay, secretary general of the Snes-FSU secondary school teachers' union, told broadcaster BFMTV: 'We know well that methods like that can lead to a tragedy... We saw it in the murder of Samuel Paty. 

'Our colleagues feel threatened and in danger.' 

Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography teacher, was stabbed and beheaded in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in October 2020, just 12 miles from Issou, after being tracked down by an Islamic extremist who saw his name online.

Paty had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo during a discussion about free speech. 

In an email sent to parents on Friday, teachers in Issou said they were exercising their right to stay away from classrooms over the 'particularly difficult situation' at the high school.

They described 'palpable discomfort' and 'an increase in cases of violence' as their daily reality.

Teachers said the students had admitted to making things up in posts online but that it was too late to quell the anger. 

'We're dealing with vindictive parents who prefer to believe their children than us,' they said in a statement.

Teachers at the school said behaviour had been deteriorating even before the row, with students fighting and threatening rape.

Lawsuit Against a Pennsylvania University Accuses the School of Antisemitism

A new lawsuit accuses Carnegie Mellon University of discrimination and antisemitism.

"Our client is determined to shed a light on what happened to her. She has been victimized by an intentional campaign to discriminate against her," said Brooke Goldstein, the founder and executive director of Lawfare Project, who is behind the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, Yael Canaan attended the School of Architecture from 2018 to 2023. The school is being accused of creating a hostile environment by allowing harassment and bigotry.

One example in the lawsuit claims Canaan asked for a homework extension to attend a memorial on CMU's campus for the Tree of Life synagogue victims in 2018, but it was denied without explanation.

Her attorneys told KDKA-TV's Mamie Bah that Canaan also dealt with antisemitic remarks from faculty and was discouraged from filing an official complaint.

Responding to the recent lawsuit, Carnegie Mellon University said in a statement, "We are steadfast in our commitment to create and nurture a welcoming, inclusive and supportive environment where all students can reach their potential and thrive. We take any allegations of mistreatment or harassment seriously. We have just received notice of this lawsuit and we will evaluate and respond to it."

South Florida Synagogue Evacuated After Bomb Threat

A stretch of El Clair Ranch Road was shut down Thursday morning while the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigated a bomb threat at a synagogue near Boynton Beach.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera told WPTV that the threat was made to the Anshei Chesed Congregation at 10683 El Clair Ranch Road.

El Clair Ranch Road was shut down between Boynton Beach Boulevard and Woolbright Road during the investigation.

The synagogue was evacuated and nearby SouthTech Academy was briefly placed on lockdown as a precaution.

Barbera said the all-clear was given shortly before 11 a.m.

Montana Synagogue Receives Bomb Threat

Law enforcement is investigating a bomb threat that was made on Thursday, December 14, 2023, against a synagogue in Missoula.

The Missoula Police Department reports a Missoula synagogue received a threat stating there was a bomb on the premises.

The message was accompanied by a demand for monetary payment, with the designated address for funds traced back to Pennsylvania, a news release states.
The message "conveyed a sense of urgency, stressing the need for immediate financial transactions to prevent the alleged threats from being carried out," Missoula Police Department spokeswoman Whitney Bennett said.

The Missoula Police Department is currently investigating the threat directed towards the synagogue.

Preliminary assessments indicate there is no evidence to corroborate the existence of an explosive device," Bennett stated.

MPD is working with local, state, and federal officials to trace the origin of these fraudulent messages and identify the individuals responsible for spreading false information.

A similar threat was made Thursday against Alberton School, as well as against schools in Charlo, Browning, Shepherd, Broadus, and Broadview.

MPD notes notes no threats have been made against Missoula County Public Schools.

Menorah Destroyed and Replaced with Antisemitic Graffiti in California

A large menorah on display outside a California amphitheater was ripped apart and tossed into a lake Wednesday morning by vandals who left threatening antisemitic graffiti on the sidewalk in its place.

The menorah, placed at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater in Oakland, was found vandalized on the sixth day of Hanukkah, officials said.

“I feel afraid,” Rabbi Dovid Labkowski, of the Chabad Center of Oakland, which set up the outdoor display, told The Oaklandside.

“It makes me feel angry that this would happen in Oakland, a place with so much diversity. It’s a place we want to live together in peace,” Labkowski added.

Oakland Public Works employees worked Wednesday morning pulling metal pieces of the menorah from the lake and scrubbing away graffiti left behind on the sidewalk where the menorah had been erected.

A photo of the graffiti shared online by watchdog group StopAntisemitism shows the threatening graffiti which included “your org is dying,” “we’re gonna find you” and “you’re on f****** alert a******.”

According to the group, “Free Palestine” was also written in spray paint in the same area.

The Oakland Police Department reported that the vandalism occurred around 1:30 a.m. and is being investigated as a hate crime.

The Chabad Center has set up the menorah at Lake Merritt for the past 18 years in celebration of Hanukkah.

This year’s official lighting was attended by over 140 people, including Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who condemned the act of hate as “not just an attack on Oakland’s Jewish community but our entire city and our shared values.”

The synagogue informed its members of the incident and gave some words of encouragement, saying, “Our enemies show tremendous hate, but we are stronger than that.”

The Arab Resource and Organizing Center, or AROC, which advocates for Muslim and Arab communities in the Bay Area, also shared a statement saying its members are “deeply saddened and dismayed to learn of the recent vandalism of the menorah at Lake Merritt in Oakland.”

The synagogue has launched a campaign to rebuild the menorah at Lake Merritt and put up others around Oakland.

The vandalism isn’t the first antisemitic incident to plague Oakland ever since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Three baristas at Farley’s East, an Oakland coffee shop, were fired after they were filmed gleefully blocking a Jewish woman from entering a restroom that was filled with antisemitic graffiti, telling her “Free Palestine” and accusing her of wanting to use the facilities because “Israel loves taking private property and saying it’s their own.”

The workers, who claim the owner knew about the graffiti for months and scapegoated them, insisted they stand against antisemitism and did not deny the woman entry because she was Jewish.

Teen Destroys Inflatable Menorah Outside Jewish Home

A hateful teenager was caught on camera tearing down an inflatable bear holding a menorah outside a Jewish family’s Brooklyn home during Hanukkah.

Shaken, but refusing to “back down” in the wake of the vandalism, the family purchased an even bigger bear as a replacement, homeowner Ikey Cabasso told The Post.

“It’s the whole concept of the holiday, light has to shine brighter, we shine brighter,” Cabasso said.

“We’re not going to fight with them. We’re not sitting here looking to fight. We’re going to shine brighter. We’re going to do the right thing,” he said.

Cabasso provided a short clip that shows a young man rip the inflatable menorah from the 8-foot bear last Friday before taking another tug and destroying the holiday decoration.

“The kid just came and obliterated it unprovoked, I saw it on my cameras,” he said. “My wife had just pulled out of the driveway with my kids maybe 30 second earlier.”

“I just don’t understand how a bear could make someone so upset, but that’s the situation we’re living in.”

The incident is just the latest instance of antisemitism in the Big Apple since Israel and Hamas went to war in October.

Cabasso filed a police report on Tuesday, and said he thought the vandal was from nearby Coney Island Prep Charter School.

The neighborhood has dealt with ongoing problems from the kids at the school, he said, including one youngster who recently screamed “Free Palestine!” and spat at a Jewish neighbor.

During a meeting with school after the vandalism Cabasso demanded the bear be replaced, and also offered to give a lecture to educate students about the situation in Israel.

The school’s response to the incident remains unclear.

Coney Island Prep Charter did not return requests for comment from The Post.

Cabasso put up the inflatable bear to show his kids it’s important to have pride in their religion and that “there’s nothing to be afraid of” following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.  

A day after the bear was ripped down, Cabasso sat down with his kids and they ordered another inflatable Hanukkah bear – only bigger.

“So we ordered a bigger one and I said ‘Guys, this is what we do as Jews, we fight,’” he said.

Cabasso, who went to Israel on a solidarity mission after the country was attacked, believes the act was a clear example of antisemitism.

“There’s Christmas decorations on the block, they’re still standing,” he said. “Honestly, how someone could come onto somebody’s property is insane.” 

Antisemitic Graffiti Found on Middle School Campus in Illinois

When students and staff arrived at Haven Middle School Monday morning, Dec. 11, they found a message in graffiti on the building.

“F— Israel. Free Palestine,” it said.

The school district’s maintenance staff immediately removed the graffiti Monday, Haven Principal Chris Latting said in a letter to families. The Evanston Police Department launched an investigation into the incident, and, according to the city crime bulletin published Wednesday, officers are looking at a time frame of between 3:30 p.m. Friday and 10:45 p.m. Sunday for when the offender or offenders may have vandalized school property.

“The initial cameras [at Haven] did not pick up anything in the incident, but with any investigation of this nature, we will be looking for additional cameras or private cameras in the area that might have captured the incident itself or people coming and going to that area in that time frame,” EPD Cmdr. Ryan Glew said Wednesday.

Police don’t yet know the number of people involved, according to Glew. Any offender or offenders will likely be charged with criminal damage to property, but a potential hate crime charge depends on their intent, age, mental capacity and a number of other factors, he said. If a middle school student is responsible, for example, District 65 will have more of a role to play in handing out its own disciplinary action.

In his letter, Latting called finding the people who painted the graffiti a “priority,” and he wrote that “incidents like these … will not be tolerated.”

“We consider the nature of the message to be antisemitic and deeply harmful to our Jewish community,” he said in the letter. “As a school and district community, we strongly condemn any instances of hate and take any matters of vandalism with the utmost seriousness.”

According to Latting and interim Superintendent Angel Turner, Haven teachers and the social emotional learning team are hosting “restorative circles” with all students at the middle school this week. In her own message to the District 65 community posted online Wednesday and titled “Our Commitment to Safe and Inclusive Schools,” Turner described the graffiti as a “blatant display of hate.”

In January, all district staff will participate in “learning opportunities” and trainings on how to facilitate dialogue on Israel and Palestine with students and colleagues, according to Turner. Curriculum and instruction staff are also “working on more explicit lessons to support deeper learning” on antisemitism and Islamophobia, she wrote.

“I can assure you that hate has no home at Haven Middle School,” Latting wrote to families on Monday. “We will not allow this type of harm to happen in our community without repercussion and repair.”