The Mississippi man indicted last month in connection with setting the state’s largest synagogue on fire is facing two additional federal charges. 

Stephen Spencer Pittman, a 19-year-old who admitted to committing arson on Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation in the early hours of Jan. 10 due to “the building’s Jewish ties,” was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on civil rights and arson offenses. The indictment adds additional counts to an earlier arson charge, making it a three-count indictment. 

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate attacks on houses of worship,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of civil rights at the Justice Department. “This superseding indictment shows that we will investigate and we will prosecute such vicious attacks that strike at the core of our country’s long tradition of religious liberty.”

According to court documents from his arrest, Pittman is alleged to have used gasoline to set fire to the house of worship. He referred to the institution as the “synagogue of Satan,” a historically antisemitic phrase that has been re-popularized by far-right commentator Candace Owens. 

Two Torah scrolls were destroyed in the fire, and five more were damaged. A Torah that survived the Holocaust, which was kept in a glass case, was unharmed. The congregation’s library and administrative office were also destroyed. The building also houses the offices of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which supports Jewish life in the region. 

Synagogue leaders estimate it will take two or three years to rebuild. The 140 families that belong to Beth Israel — the only synagogue in Jackson, the state’s capital city —  are indefinitely holding services in a nearby church.  

If convicted on all federal counts, Pittman could face up to 50 years in prison and up to $750,000 in fines.

The suspect in an arson attack that destroyed Mississippi’s largest synagogue early Saturday morning confessed to targeting the building because of its “Jewish ties,” the FBI announced on Monday. 

In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi more than 48 hours after the attack, the FBI said the suspect, Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, admitted to starting the blaze at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., due to “the building’s Jewish ties.” In an interview with the Jackson Fire Department, he referred to the institution as the “synagogue of Satan,” a historically antisemitic phrase that has been re-popularized by far-right commentator Candace Owens. 

Pittman appeared in court Monday to face arson charges, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which made no mention of hate crime charges. If convicted, Pittman faces a minimum penalty of 5 years and a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s field office in Jackson told Jewish Insider on Monday that no press conference providing further details is planned. 

According to the affidavit, Pittman told investigators he stopped at a gas station on his way to the synagogue to purchase the gasoline used in the fire. At the station, he removed his license plate. He broke into a window of the synagogue shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday using an ax, doused the inside in gas and used a torch lighter to start the fire. No congregants were injured in the blaze.

According to the complaint, Pittman also admitted to committing arson in text messages to his father, who told authorities.  

Pittman texted a photo of the synagogue, accompanied by messages that said, “There’s a furnace in the back,” “BTW my plate is off,” “Hoodie is on” and, “And they have the best cameras.”

Pittman posted a link on what appears to be his Instagram account to One Purpose, a website with the description, “Scripture-backed fitness. Brotherhood accountability. Life-expectancy-maxxing.” The top of the site has the Hebrew four-letter name for God and the words “Build Your Temple for His Glory.” 

In one recent Instagram post, Pittman shared a list of foods suggested for a “Christian Diet/Testosterone Optimization” which included the Hebrew words for “butter” and “olive oil” under “only God-made fats.” 

Pittman primarily posted about baseball, but one day before the attack shared a repost of a “Jew in Backyard” cartoon in which a character with horns and a large nose, wearing a Star of David, is holding two moneybags. “A Jew in our backyard. I can’t believe my Jewcrow didn’t work,” a woman says, pointing to a waiter with a sign asking for tips.

Beth Israel is the only synagogue in Jackson, the state’s capital and most populous city. The historic building also houses the offices of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which supports Jewish life in the region.   

Located in a major hub of the Civil Rights Movement, Beth Israel was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan over the rabbi’s support for racial justice — including providing chaplain services to activists incarcerated for challenging segregated bussing in the state. 

Two Torah scrolls were destroyed in the fire, and five more were damaged. A Torah that survived the Holocaust, which was kept in a glass case, was unharmed. The congregation’s library and administrative office were ruined, and the congregation has canceled services indefinitely. 

A suspect is under arrest for an act of arson that significantly damaged Mississippi’s largest synagogue early Saturday morning, authorities reported. 

Local law enforcement arrested a suspect whom they believe purposefully set fire to Beth Israel Congregation shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, Jackson Mayor John Horhn confirmed. The suspect’s name and motive have not been disclosed.

Beth Israel Congregation is the only synagogue in Jackson, the state’s capital and most populous city. The historic building also houses the offices of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which supports Jewish life in the region.   

Located in a major hub of the Civil Rights Movement, Beth Israel was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan over the rabbi’s support for racial justice — including providing chaplain services to activists incarcerated for challenging segregated bussing in the state. 

No congregants were injured in Saturday’s blaze. Two Torah scrolls were destroyed in the fire, and five more were damaged. A Torah that survived the Holocaust, which was kept in a glass case, was unharmed. The congregation’s library and administrative office were ruined, and the congregation has canceled services indefinitely. 

“We have already had outreach from other houses of worship in the Jackson area and greatly appreciate their support in this very difficult time,” the synagogue president, Zach Shemper, said in a statement. About 3,000 Jews live in Mississippi, comprising 0.1% of its 3 million residents. The southern state is home to around a dozen synagogues.  

While police and the FBI have not yet determined the suspect’s motive, the arson comes as antisemitic hate crimes in the U.S. reached a record high in 2024 since the FBI started tracking data in 1991. 

The incident drew condemnation from elected officials and Jewish leaders. 

“Acts of antisemitism, racism and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as threats to our residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” Horhn said in a statement. “Targeting people because of their faith, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation is morally wrong, un-American and incompatible with the values of this city.”

“I would hope that all Mississippians and all Jacksonians would commit themselves toward moving beyond such behavior and activity and find a way where we can all get together and get along,” continued Horhn, who said he remembers the 1967 attack, which occurred when he was 12.  

“Our hearts are with the members of Beth Israel Congregation. We stand together with them as do all the caring people of Mississippi. We denounce violence and find attacks on places of worship especially despicable,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said in a statement. 

“Regardless of the findings of the investigation, this is what it means to be Jewish in America right now: antisemitic violence and attacks on synagogues and Jews are so common that they barely register beyond local news, and the people most often naming it, mourning it, and sounding the alarm are Jews themselves,” Sheila Katz, chief Jewish life officer at Jewish Federations of North America, wrote on social media. 

“It also means this: the Jewish community in Mississippi will come together. They will support one another and be supported by Jews they don’t know around the country and the world. They will rebuild. They will continue to celebrate Jewish holidays and live Jewish life with joy,” Katz continued.

“Waking to the news of an arson attack on a Mississippi synagogue feels all too familiar. This description is chilling. We stand with the Jackson community,” said Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee.  

“Grateful that law enforcement has apprehended a suspect,” Deutch continued. “Glad the Mayor has spoken out. Now will you touch base with your Jewish friends, neighbors and co-workers?  Let them know that you understand this attack in Jackson is an attack on them as well. Tell them you stand with the Jewish community. It will mean more than you know.” 

“The fact that this historic synagogue … has once again been targeted is particularly painful and disturbing. We will continue to monitor the situation closely,” said Lindsay Baach Friedmann, regional director of Anti-Defamation League South Central.  

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, called on leaders “to speak out, stand with the Jewish community in meaningful ways, and work to build strong coalitions and advance holistic approaches to counter hate, violence, and extremism wherever it exists. This crisis threatens Jews, all communities, and our democracy — and until it’s treated with the seriousness and urgency it deserves, none of us will be safe,” she said.

“Domestic terrorism against Jews never happens in a vacuum,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), a staunch ally of the Jewish community, said in a statement. “Instead of extinguishing the fires of antisemitism, American politics is often guilty of fanning the flames.”

Deborah Lipstadt, the former State Department special antisemitism envoy, called the arson attack “another step in the globalization of the intifada.”

Hours after the man accused of an arson attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in April pled guilty to the attempted murder of Gov. Josh Shapiro, the governor appeared to publicly acknowledge for the first time that the attacker targeted him for his faith.

Cody Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison for the attack, which took place hours after Shapiro and his family hosted a Passover Seder at the governor’s residence in Harrisburg. Balmer said after his arrest that he was motivated by the war in Gaza, and that he wanted Shapiro to know that Balmer “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.” Shapiro has avoided calling the attack a hate crime. 

In a CNN interview on Tuesday, Shapiro was asked by anchor Jake Tapper if he believed he was “targeted just because you’re Jewish.”

“​​Look, obviously, as governor of Pennsylvania I don’t have foreign policy in my job description. But clearly, the district attorney thought that this was a material fact,” Shapiro said. “Clearly this was a motivating factor.” 

Balmer did not face hate crime charges in the case. 

“Whatever is motivating this political violence in this country, it needs to stop. Whether it’s targeting me because of my faith, whether it’s targeting someone else because of their ideology, it is not OK,” Shapiro told Tapper. “I think we need all leaders to speak and act with moral clarity, to call it out, to condemn it, and to try and take down the temperature so we don’t end up in situations like this where public officials are targeted because of their faith or their feelings or their ideology.”

A new video released by prosecutors this week shows Balmer walking through the governor’s residence and attempting to kick down doors to the area where Shapiro and his family slept. He is seen throwing Molotov cocktails into a room filled with round tables where the seder had taken place hours before.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Sunday, a week after an arsonist motivated by anti-Israel animus set the governor’s mansion on fire. 

Herzog expressed solidarity with Shapiro after the attack, which took place hours after the governor hosted a Passover Seder. 

Shapiro told Herzog he greatly appreciated the call, a spokesperson for the president told Jewish Insider.

The man who set fire to the governor’s mansion last weekend said in a 911 call that he “will not take part in [Shapiro’s] plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.” 

While Shapiro quoted the Jewish priestly blessing following the attack, he stopped short of attributing the attack to antisemitism in an interview on Friday with ABC News and rebuffed a call by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to have Attorney General Pam Bondi investigate the attack as a hate crime.

Herzog was the first Israeli official to call Shapiro after the attack. 

Ofir Akunis, the Israeli consul general in New York, sent a letter to Shapiro last week, saying that he was “deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the arson attack.”

“This appalling act of violence, carried out during one of the most meaningful nights of the Jewish calendar, could have resulted in a far greater tragedy,” Akunis added. “We commend law enforcement for their swift and effective response, and we stand in full solidarity with you and your family.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is holding firm in his choice not to label the arson attack that targeted the governor’s mansion on Passover as antisemitic or a hate crime, saying in a Friday interview on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that he will leave that question to the prosecutors. 

“I think that’s a question for the prosecutors to determine. They’re going to determine motive,” Shapiro said. “I recognize when you’re in these positions of power, there are people out there that want to do you harm, but I try not to be captive to the fear, and I try not to worry or think about why people want to do that harm.”

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed Shapiro on the question, noting that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on the Department of Justice to investigate the attack as a hate crime. Shapiro stood by his statement made on Thursday that Schumer’s letter was not “helpful.”

Stephanopoulos followed up with an opportunity for Shapiro to address antisemitism by connecting the attack on the governor’s mansion to the 2018 Tree of Life shooting. 

Shapiro’s job, Stephanopoulos argued, “is to combat the kind of conditions we’re seeing to create the opportunity for situations like this. Pennsylvania is no stranger to this,” he said. “We saw the attack in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. How do you combat this kind of hate?”

Shapiro pivoted away from the comparison. “By speaking and acting with moral clarity,” Shapiro responded.

Rather than mentioning antisemitism in his response, Shapiro instead spoke about political violence. He talked about the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., last summer and mentioned the arrest of Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in Altoona, Pa. 

“I think it’s also important when you’re not dealing with a traumatic event, in Butler, in Altoona or here in Harrisburg, to be leading every day in a way that brings people together and doesn’t just continually divide us,” said Shapiro. 

The man accused of setting fire to the governor’s residence in Harrisburg, Pa., hours after Gov. Josh Shapiro hosted a Passover Seder there for family and friends did so to protest Shapiro’s stance toward the Palestinians, according to a police search warrant. 

Cody Balmer, the suspect, allegedly threw homemade explosives into the mansion in the middle of the night, igniting a fire that caused severe damage to the home. On a 911 call, Balmer said that Shapiro “needs to know that he ‘will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,’” the warrant says. 

Balmer then added that Shapiro “needs to stop having my friends killed, and ‘our people have been put through too much by that monster,’” referring to Shapiro, according to the warrant. After Balmer turned himself in to police, he “admitted to harboring hatred” of Shapiro, and claimed he would’ve attacked Shapiro with a hammer if he had encountered him. 

Hours before Shapiro, his wife and their children were forced to evacuate their home during the fire, they hosted a Seder in the state dining room, one of the rooms that sustained heavy damage. A photo released by the governor’s office showed a charred piano, burnt furniture and ashes covering the floor. The windows were shattered. 

Balmer, 38, who lives in Harrisburg, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, terrorism and other offenses. In a press conference on Wednesday, Shapiro declined to say whether he believed he was targeted for practicing his faith, or whether Balmer should face hate crime charges, saying that is a question prosecutors will have to answer. 

“I continue to find strength in my faith as we go forward here,” Shapiro said, noting that his family still had a Seder on Sunday evening for the second night of Passover, though not specifying where. “The prosecutors will ultimately determine what motivated this — the district attorney, the Department of Justice can comment on that further. But right now I think what we’re trying to do is find the good in society, not be deterred from our work, not be deterred from practicing our faith proudly and to continue to move forward as parents and continue to move forward as governor and first lady.”

Shapiro said he has heard from many Jewish families concerned about the attack and its timing on Passover.

“I want them to see that my wife and I and our kids continue to celebrate our faith proudly and openly,” said Shapiro. “I want them to see that people from all different faiths have reached out to condemn this act and to lift up our family in prayer, and that’s the Pennsylvania way.” 

As investigators assess the damage at the home, Shapiro is still unsure what was lost in the fire. “I don’t know if our Seder plates or any of our other materials were damaged, melted, destroyed in the fire,” he said. “We brought Seder plates and other ritual items from our home, from our personal home there, to celebrate with family and the community that we had invited to the Seder there.”

Images shared by the governor’s office showed damage to some of the Passover material. One showed burnt pages from the Haggadah, left open to the final page, with the song “Chad Gadya” and Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem. Another showed a charred poster, left out from earlier in the night, inviting children to participate in Passover crafts.

A synagogue in Montreal was targeted with arson early Wednesday morning for the second time since the Oct. 7 attacks. The incident marks the seventh instance in the last 14 months where a Jewish institution in Montreal, Canada’s second largest city, has been attacked. 

As a result, Jewish leaders criticized elected officials on Wednesday for what they say has been a muted response in the face of rising antisemitism and warn that Canada is becoming increasingly unsafe for Jews, spiraling into “total chaos.”  

Police were called to Beth Tikvah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue, in the city’s Dollard-des-Ormeaux suburb around 3 a.m. after receiving reports of fire, according to the Montreal Gazette.  Police also discovered two smashed windows at the nearby Jewish community center that houses offices of the Federation CJA and the Hebrew Foundation School.

Upon arriving at the scene, police reportedly found remnants of a crude firebomb and smashed glass. Smoke caused minor damage to the building. No injuries were reported. A spokesperson for the Montreal police told Jewish Insider that the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. 

Henry Topas, Beth Tikvah’s cantor and B’nai Brith Canada’s regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, told JI that the attack comes as the government of Canada has “allowed unbridled immigration to come.”

“The people who have been coming have not been adapting to the fabric of Canadian society,” Topas said. “Montreal Mayor [Valérie Plante] has virtually handcuffed the police. She doesn’t let the police do their job and she has allowed threatening — verging on violent — [anti-Israel] demonstrations to go on and people feel free to do whatever the hell they want,” Topas said. “It’s total chaos.” Plante did not immediately respond to a request for comment from JI about her handling of anti-Israel protests. 

In a statement Wednesday, Federation CJA echoed that the fire is a “brutal reminder of what happens when politicians don’t denounce antisemitism and the escalation of violence in our streets.”

Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s Conservative party opposition leader, condemned “these cowardly acts” in a statement. 

He called on “this Liberal government to finally show a backbone and do something to protect our people.”

“Another brazen act of antisemitic hate and violence overnight,” Poilievre wrote on X. “After 9 years of [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau, Canada has become a more dangerous place for people of the Jewish faith.” 

Both Trudeau and Plante denounced the attacks in statements. On X, Plante wrote, “Antisemitic actions are criminal actions. The SPVM will investigate and will find those responsible. It is not acceptable that Montrealers live feeling unsafe because of their religion.”

Trudeau described it as a “cowardly, criminal” and a “vile antisemitic attack.”

Jewish leaders worldwide also condemned the attacks and called for a stronger response from Canada’s lawmakers.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said on X that the “lack of global outrage” to attacks on Montreal’s Jewish community “is inexplicable and inexcusable.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the local government should “take the strongest possible stance against antisemitism” following the attacks.

The recent spate of antisemitic incidents in Montreal has also included a Jewish day school being fired upon and the vandalism of a billboard announcing a new Montreal Holocaust Museum.

Beth Tikvah was also the target of a Molotov cocktail in November 2023, which caused burn marks on the front door. Topas said that despite the attacks, he expects “above normal attendance this [Shabbat] to show solidarity, [including] people from other societies and faiths.”