Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Utah Synagogue Bomb Plot Foiled
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch. I'm Rachel Adler. Today, we're
- 0:10Speaker 1: covering escalating threats and accountability for antisemitic acts worldwide. We're
- 0:15Speaker 1: also launching Antisemitism Watch, Mid-Atlantic, with focused coverage from New York,
- 0:20Speaker 1: New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region. You can find
- 0:24Speaker 1: more at clockworkmedia.org slash M-A and now, to our stories.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Federal agents in Utah have thwarted a plot to bomb
- 0:32Speaker 1: a synagogue. According to reporting from WHMI, 22-year-old Skyler Rose
- 0:37Speaker 1: was arrested after allegedly declaring online his intent to blow
- 0:41Speaker 1: up the synagogue. Agents seized six live pipe bombs, bomb-making
- 0:45Speaker 1: gear and rifles from his home in Ogden. WHMI reports
- 0:49Speaker 1: Rose faces severe hate crime, explosives and child sex abuse charges.
- 0:54Speaker 1: In midtown Manhattan, police arrested 32-year-old Anna Mokalova in connection
- 0:59Speaker 1: with a terror spree targeting Jewish victims. WHMI reports that
- 1:04Speaker 1: police say Mokolova stabbed a Hasidic rabbi in the back
- 1:07Speaker 1: outside the Diamond District, and minutes later, slashed another man
- 1:11Speaker 1: wearing a yarmulke. She reportedly asked a third man if
- 1:14Speaker 1: he was Jewish, but apologized and fled when he identified
- 1:18Speaker 1: as Muslim. In a significant case outcome, Mohamed Salomon has
- 1:22Speaker 1: pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and other charges for
- 1:26Speaker 1: a deadly firebombing attack on demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado. According
- 1:31Speaker 1: to reporting by KDH News and Wakf.com, Solomon, who is
- 1:35Speaker 1: already serving a life sentence for state charges, attacked demonstrators
- 1:39Speaker 1: in June 2025 with Molotov cocktails while yelling, Free Palestine.
- 1:44Speaker 1: Federal prosecutors accused Solomon of targeting the demonstrators because they
- 1:48Speaker 1: were Jewish. The attack severely burned 82-year-old Karen Diamond, who
- 1:53Speaker 1: died weeks later from her injuries. An FBI affidavit, cited
- 1:57Speaker 1: by KDH News, State Solomon told police after his arrest
- 2:01Speaker 1: that he sought to kill all Zionist people. In Newburgh,
- 2:05Speaker 1: New York, police are investigating a Nazi swastika spray-painted on
- 2:09Speaker 1: a campaign sign for Scott Manley, a Jewish Republican running
- 2:13Speaker 1: for town supervisor. According to reporting by ClevelandJewishNews.com and JNS,
- 2:18Speaker 1: police chief Donald Bruce Campbell stated it is early in
- 2:22Speaker 1: the investigation with no arrests made. Manley, whose family lost
- 2:26Speaker 1: over 200 relatives in the Holocaust, told JNS his stomach
- 2:30Speaker 1: turned upon seeing the vandalism, adding he had never encountered
- 2:34Speaker 1: similar anti-Semitic acts in his town. The Anti-Defamation League, along
- 2:38Speaker 1: with Reed Smith LLP, has filed a federal civil rights
- 2:42Speaker 1: complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning severe anti-Semitic
- 2:47Speaker 1: harassment of a Jewish student at Desert Shadows Middle School
- 2:51Speaker 1: in Scottsdale, Arizona. ADL reports the 14-year-old student was subjected
- 2:55Speaker 1: to harassment between April and May 2026, including being called
- 3:00Speaker 1: an ugly Jew, threatened with being gassed, and a Heil
- 3:04Speaker 1: Hitler salute. The complaint alleges that the district failed to
- 3:07Speaker 1: effectively address the harassment, which culminated in a physical assault
- 3:11Speaker 1: on the student, and that school staff responded dismissively. The
- 3:15Speaker 1: student is now attending school in a different district. In Norway,
- 3:19Speaker 1: Jan Errett, director of the Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and
- 3:22Speaker 1: Minority Studies, resigned this week. The Jewish Chronicle reported Eretz
- 3:27Speaker 1: cited a loss of confidence from the board and Jewish
- 3:30Speaker 1: religious communities. His resignation follows extensive efforts by the Jewish
- 3:35Speaker 1: community to remove him. In part over his statement in
- 3:38Speaker 1: June 2025 calling Israel's war a genocide, the centre's board chairman,
- 3:44Speaker 1: Hans Petter Graver, stated a difficult relationship had developed between
- 3:48Speaker 1: Eretz and Norway's Jewish communities. impacting the centre's essential trust.
- 3:53Speaker 1: In the UK, the government has accepted recommendations from the
- 3:56Speaker 1: Bell Review, requiring all schools to consider antisemitism a distinct
- 4:01Speaker 1: form of harm and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance,
- 4:05Speaker 1: or IHRA, working definition. Novara Media reports concerns that this
- 4:10Speaker 1: adoption will lead to the silencing of pro-Palestine expression among pupils.
- 4:15Speaker 1: The outlet argues that under the IHRA definition, Criticism of
- 4:20Speaker 1: Israel or rejection of Zionism can be equated with antisemitism.
- 4:24Speaker 1: Political scientist Daniel Schatz is critiquing climate activist Greta Thunberg,
- 4:29Speaker 1: warning she has devolved into a narcissistic, conflict influencer. According
- 4:34Speaker 1: to WHMI, Schatz argues Thunberg's activism has shifted toward anti-Israel extremism,
- 4:40Speaker 1: citing her endorsement of motions like Zionism is racism and
- 4:44Speaker 1: her association with individuals he calls terror sympathizers. Senior Canadian
- 4:49Speaker 1: national security officials are warning that the Jewish community in
- 4:53Speaker 1: Canada faces unprecedented threats in severity and number following the
- 4:58Speaker 1: October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. The Globe and Mail
- 5:02Speaker 1: reported officials cited the speed of radicalization and a convergence
- 5:06Speaker 1: of threats, including white nationalists, Islamic terrorist groups, Iran, and
- 5:11Speaker 1: online communities targeting youth for violence. Finally, a new study
- 5:15Speaker 1: from the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research and Boundless offers
- 5:19Speaker 1: a positive development in combating online hate. Researchers found that
- 5:24Speaker 1: a brief message reminding young Americans that most people reject
- 5:28Speaker 1: antisemitism significantly increases their likelihood of recognizing and reporting antisemitic
- 5:34Speaker 1: social media content. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated this practical,
- 5:39Speaker 1: scalable tool can help educators, platforms, and leaders. I'm Rachel Adler,
- 5:45Speaker 1: thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. For focused coverage
- 5:48Speaker 1: from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region,
- 5:53Speaker 1: listen to Antisemitism Watch. MidAtlantic at ClockworkMedia.org slash MA. Follow
- 5:58Speaker 1: Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so you don't miss
- 6:02Speaker 1: the next update. This report was generated with AI assistance
- 6:06Speaker 1: and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with primary sources.
- 6:13Speaker 1: Thank you.