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. 

Federal authorities foiled an alleged terror plot by an anti-Israel, anti-American extremist group, officials announced on Monday. The group — the Turtle Island Liberation Front — appears to also be one of the organizers of an anti-Israel protest that targeted a Los Angeles synagogue this month. 

Four members of TILF were arrested over the weekend in the Mojave Desert, where they had allegedly gathered to attempt to construct improvised explosive devices. According to Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, they planned to set off the pipe bombs in a coordinated attack at midnight on New Year’s Eve targeting U.S. companies in Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif. 

“Last Friday, Dec. 12, the defendants took a significant step to carry out their plans,” Essayli said at a press conference Monday, noting that they traveled to a remote campsite near Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County to begin assembling the bombs. “They had everything they needed to make an operational bomb.” 

Attorney General Pam Bondi described TILF as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group” in a social media post about the arrests. The four people arrested were identified as Audrey Ilene Carroll, Dante Garfield, Zachary Aaron Page and Tina Lai. They face charges of conspiracy and possession of a destructive device. FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Monday that a fifth individual with ties to the plot was arrested in New Orleans. 

Carroll had a poster at her home that said “Death to America. Long live Turtle Island and Palestine,” according to prosecutors. Turtle Island is a phrase used by some Native Americans to describe North America. 

TILF appears to be an organizer of an anti-Israel protest that targeted Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of the largest synagogues in Los Angeles, earlier this month. 

The group posted a “call to action” on its Instagram urging followers to target the “bloody war criminals” and “genocidal monsters” from Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense company, because of the purported use of Elbit’s AI technology in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood. “Never let them live in peace,” the caption read. 

The post listed an address on Wilshire Boulevard for the demonstration but did not name the location. The address corresponds with the Wilshire Boulevard Temple building where an event to teach Koreans about security strategies, featuring an AI researcher from Elbit Systems, was taking place at the same date and time. 

Protesters entered the synagogue and disrupted the event, with one person shattering a glass vase and chanting profanities. Two people were arrested during the incident. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass called the activists’ actions “abhorrent” and pledged to send more security to houses of worship. 

Other posts on TILF’s Instagram call for violence.

“Peaceful protest will never be enough,” one graphic reads. “The only way out is through resistance.” 

The account’s most recent post was promoting a Palestine-themed holiday market in Los Angeles last weekend. 

Prosecutors announced on Monday that the investigation into the TILF New Year’s Eve plot was due in part to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September “to root out left-wing domestic terror organizations in our country such as antifa and other radical groups,” according to Essayli.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) first became a household name for her embrace of a range of wild conspiracy theories — including antisemitic claims about the Rothschild family like the idea that space-based weapons controlled by the Jewish banking family were the cause of California wildfires.

But as the congresswoman has emerged as an unlikely star in liberal circles and mainstream media after breaking with her party on the government shutdown, health care funding and the Jeffrey Epstein files, her erstwhile critics have all but ignored her increasingly frequent use of antisemitic tropes and embrace of conspiracy theories targeting Jews.

Earlier this week, the controversial Georgia congresswoman vowed on X, “No bar codes on me. I’ll never take 30 shekels. I’m America only! And Christ is King!”

Her rejection of “30 shekels” appears to be a reference to the pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, and the currency of Israel. Greene’s mention of “bar codes” refers to claims by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) about AIPAC fundraising events, which AIPAC has denied.

She has also repeatedly boosted claims that Israel and Jewish people were involved in last month’s killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and are seeking to co-opt his organization.

“Do not allow a foreign country, foreign agents, and another religion tell you about Charlie Kirk,” Greene said on X. “And I hope a foreign country and foreign agents and another religion does not take over Christian Patriotic Turning Point USA.”

Last week, Greene reposted an X post by Holocaust denier Evan Kilgore, in which Kilgore shared a video of Candace Owens — a primary propagator of Israel-related conspiracy theories about Kirk’s death — claiming that Kirk had announced prior to his death that he was abandoning his support for Israel.

And she lauded a eulogy delivered by far-right commentator Tucker Carlson at Kirk’s funeral, in which Carlson compared Kirk’s killing to the death of Jesus.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that no matter which party is in charge, the secular government of Israel always gets its way,” Greene wrote on X.

Greene has been one of the few Republican lawmakers to attack AIPAC and other pro-Israel advocacy groups, accusing them of exercising malign influence over the U.S. government and demanding they register as foreign agents. AIPAC is funded and led by American citizens, not the Israeli government.

She has accused Israel of “meddling in campaigns and elections” and of “meddling in government policy — government of the United States policy — as well as dictating what America does in foreign wars.”

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that no matter which party is in charge, the secular government of Israel always gets its way,” Greene added on X.

Regarding the war in Gaza, Greene has employed language sometimes indistinguishable from that of far-left Israel opponents, accusing Israel of committing genocide and of deliberately killing innocent people and children, particularly Christians. She led an effort in the House to cut off U.S. missile defense aid to Israel, which failed overwhelmingly.

She also shared posts suggesting that Israel had foreknowledge of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and chose to delay its response, and claimed that “Most of America has Israel fatigue” because politicians ignore domestic problems in order to “talk about Israel all day” and that a GOP colleague is “fighting for his life to maintain his pro Israel money.”

“I am not suicidal and one of the happiest healthiest people you will meet. I have full faith in God and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. As a sinner, I am only saved through His grace and mercy,” Greene said. “With that said, if something happens to me, I ask you all to find out which foreign government or powerful people would take heinous actions to stop the information from coming out.”

Greene described the Anti-Defamation League as a “dangerous hate group that targets Christians,” praising the FBI for recently cutting ties with the group.

Amid her escalating social media campaign against the pro-Israel world and her advocacy for the release of files related to the Epstein investigation, Greene suggested last month on X that a foreign government or other powerful individuals were planning to assassinate her.

“I am not suicidal and one of the happiest healthiest people you will meet. I have full faith in God and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. As a sinner, I am only saved through His grace and mercy,” Greene said. “With that said, if something happens to me, I ask you all to find out which foreign government or powerful people would take heinous actions to stop the information from coming out.”

The post was widely interpreted — including by at least one fellow lawmaker — as a suggestion that Israel or Jewish people were targeting Greene.

“Why do crazy people keep thinking ‘the Jews’ are trying to kill them?” Rep. Ted Cruz (R-TX) replied.

Greene has also claimed Israel is operating a social media campaign targeting her.

Outside of Israel policy and the Jewish community, Greene has also continued to lean into other conspiracy theories, such as posting in August that it is “oddly consistent and strange” that several mass shooters have authored manifestos, asking, “who tells them to do that?” In the past, she has repeatedly spread conspiracy theories about mass shootings, speculating that demonic possession or military mind control may be responsible for school shootings.

Last month, she also shared a Carlson documentary claiming the truth of the 9/11 attacks had been covered up and convened a congressional hearing on weather modification that heavily featured conspiracy theories and false and misleading claims.

“The RJC has endorsed multiple GOP primary challengers to Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is out of step with the Republican Party, and with President Trump. The people of Georgia deserve better — and we are determined to do what we can to retire her,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said.

“While the president and congressional Republicans back our ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is aligned with Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to demonize Israel and weaken a partnership that makes America safer, strong and more prosperous,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told Jewish Insider. “Our 5 million members will not be deterred by her rancid anti-Israel and unhinged raving.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition, which has repeatedly opposed Greene, said it continues to support efforts to defeat her.

“The RJC has endorsed multiple GOP primary challengers to Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is out of step with the Republican Party, and with President Trump. The people of Georgia deserve better — and we are determined to do what we can to retire her,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said.

Greene did not respond to a request for comment.

Greene has recently been a thorn in the side of GOP leadership for a number of reasons, including criticizing the party’s approach to a health care tax credit central to the current government shutdown, critiquing the Trump administration’s mass deportation strategy and Middle East policy, backing an effort to force a House vote on the release of documents related to the Epstein investigation, accusing the party of blocking women from leadership roles and voting against other elements of the House Republican leadership’s agenda.

Her disputes with the Trump administration could create an opportunity for a Republican primary challenger to make a run against her — though Trump hasn’t personally spoken out against Greene as he has against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), another anti-Israel House GOP colleague, and Greene has continued to profess her loyalty to Trump and his movement.

She does not yet face any serious primary competition.

Greene previously accumulated influence in the House as a close ally of Trump and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) but has found herself increasingly sidelined. National Republican Party leaders did not back her as she considered a run for Georgia’s Senate seat against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) or the state’s governorship.

FBI Director Kash Patel called the Anti-Defamation League “an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization,” saying in a Wednesday announcement that the FBI has cut all formal ties with the anti-hate group. 

Patel slammed James Comey, the former FBI director now facing federal charges for allegedly lying to Congress in 2020, for speaking at an ADL conference in 2014 and 2017.

“James Comey disgraced the FBI by writing ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedding agents with an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization and the disgraceful operation they ran spying on Americans,” Patel told Fox News. “That was not law enforcement, it was activism dressed up as counterterrorism, and it put Americans in danger.” 

The ADL’s website says the organization “works closely with federal, state and local law enforcement to assist them in protecting communities from extremism and hate.” The Bureau’s Denver field office gave a leadership award to a senior ADL official last year, calling the ADL “invaluable partners for the FBI in Denver.” The press release announcing that award has since been deleted from the FBI’s website. 

“That era is finished,” Patel said Wednesday. “This FBI formally rejects Comey’s policies and any partnership with the ADL.”

In recent days, the ADL came under fire from Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and other far-right activists because of a post on its website that outlined ties between extremists and Turning Point USA, the activist group founded by Charlie Kirk, the conservative influencer who was killed at a speaking engagement in Utah last month. Facing pressure from these leading voices on the right, the ADL this week deleted its online Glossary of Extremism and Hate.

“ADL has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country who work tirelessly every single day to protect all Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, political affiliation or any other point of difference,” the group said in a statement Wednesday.

“In light of an unprecedented surge of antisemitism, we remain more committed than ever to our core purpose to protect the Jewish people.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), speaking to a gathering of Jewish activists on Capitol Hill, highlighted concerns about rising left-wing antisemitism and the ways that antisemitic narratives are being spread to and by college students.

“We’re used to the right-wing side. What is new and what I think has so many in the Jewish community on our heels is that new left-wing antisemitism and how to approach it,” Slotkin said at a pre-High Holidays security briefing organized by several Jewish communal organizations. “How do we counteract it? How do we protect against it? How do we educate?”

“And certainly, we’re watching, on many college campuses, a lot of young people who actually maybe didn’t grow up with the Jewish community at all, get to campus and maybe repeat what they’re hearing, sometimes not even understanding or knowing,” she continued. “I would just say that one of our responsibilities as Jewish leaders and Jewish activists is to try and really parse through how to deal with antisemitism on the left, since antisemitism on the right isn’t good, but it’s more of a well-known threat.”

The freshman Michigan senator, who is working to establish herself as a leader in the chamber on national security issues, recently backed efforts to stop at least some offensive weapons shipments to Israel and emphasized that she hadn’t accepted endorsements from “Jewish group[s],” naming AIPAC and J Street.

Slotkin said at the Wednesday event that she “[doesn’t] think there’s been a more complicated and dicey time to be Jews in America, period, maybe since World War II.”

Speaking in support of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, Slotkin said that one of the “most powerful moments that I had” during her time as a member of Congress was when a mosque in her district faced threats, and she worked with the local Jewish federation and her synagogue to help the mosque apply for an NSGP grant.

An emotional Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) referenced the killing of her friend, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the mass shooting at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis as she discussed the rise of violent extremism across the country, including various incidents targeting the Jewish community.

“We have been through this each and every time, but the babies keep dying,” Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar said that in conversations with administration officials immediately after the Annunciation shooting, her top priority was pushing for increased NSGP funding, in addition to gun control measures and action to address extremism and incitement on social media platforms.

She highlighted that the Annunciation Church shooter had left a manifesto spreading hate against a range of targets including Jews, Muslims, Black people and Hispanic people, and emphasized that he and other mass shooters have been “performing for the internet.”

While she noted that data shows that political violence has been coming more from the right than the left, “I don’t want to go tit-for-tat. I care about what we’re doing now and going forward, and words matter right now for bringing America together,” Klobuchar said.

Speaking about threats to the Jewish community specifically, Klobuchar noted the rise in antisemitic hate crimes nationally, saying that “something is seriously wrong in our country.” She said that 25 Jewish facilities had received bomb threats in Minnesota in the past year.

“This has completely shattered people, kids are scared,” Klobuchar said.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) said, referring to a string of recent antisemitic attacks, “I don’t care what fringe it comes from. This kind of extremism, hate and violence is unacceptable and needs to be condemned. … Foreign policy debates are complicated. Condemning antisemitism is not.”

She added that, as the generation that survived and witnessed the Holocaust shrinks, “we have to decide as a country if we will let their lessons pass.”

Hassan continued, “We can’t afford inaction. We can’t afford indifference, nor should we feel the need to offer qualification or apology, to simply say that the world’s oldest hate should be denounced as loudly as any other.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) also delivered remarks at the event, as did Rev. Russ McDougall, a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who was invited in part to discuss the Annunciation Church attack. Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered video remarks.

The session also featured a panel with Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff, Secure Communities Network CEO Michael Masters, Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Moshe Hauer and Anti-Defamation League director of government relations Carmiel Arbit.

Fingerhut told Jewish Insider there is “a domestic terror crisis” in the country “and we need comprehensive, strong action.”

“[Members of Congress] didn’t create the COVID problem either, but they responded with a crisis-level response, and that’s the level of response we need,” Fingerhut said.

He emphasized the need not only for increased NSGP funding but stronger funding for local law enforcement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to fight domestic terrorism. He said that resourcing and funding at those agencies for the counterterrorism mission isn’t sufficient.

“We’re in an era now of a trillion-dollar defense budget that is aimed at fighting terror and protecting America all over the world,” Fingerhut said. “We have a domestic terror crisis here, and it needs the level of attention and coordinated leadership by the federal government that we get in national defense.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) called on the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate the political organizations that Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum, claims to be an active member of. 

Cornyn made the call in a post on X on Thursday that federal authorities should investigate the organizations allegedly affiliated with Rodriguez and the funding networks that finance their operations. The Texas senator was responding to a post alleging Rodriguez has ties to groups including the Party for Socialism and Liberation, People’s Congress of Resistance and ANSWER Chicago. 

“Every single one of these groups and their funding should be investigated immediately. This attack goes beyond antisemitism. We must know if this is domestic terrorism,” Cornyn said, adding that he was confident Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel “will get to the bottom of this threat.”

Speaking to Newsmax on Thursday, Cornyn applauded the Trump administration for taking an aggressive approach to addressing the surge of domestic antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. “There’s been a course correction since the election of President Trump,” he told the network.

“We have a new sheriff in town. We have a new attorney general, a new FBI director that can aggressively do investigations and prosecute individuals who violate the rights of our Jewish citizens, and I think that will go a long way to correcting the direction that we have been on for the last four years,” Cornyn said.

“A lot of the woke programs and policies of universities across this country were a big surprise to a lot of people — the blatant antisemitism in particular, the targeting of Jewish students. This is unacceptable,” he continued.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation quickly disavowed  affiliation with Rodriguez after the attack, saying he “is not a member” of the organization and only had “a brief association” with the group in 2017.

The ANSWER Coalition has organized a series of anti-Israel protests in the United States, including the rally during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s congressional speech in July 2024 that ended in numerous arrests and the vandalism of D.C.’s Union Station. Scripps News published archive footage from 2018 when the news service interviewed Rodriguez at a protest in Chicago, where he identified himself as a member of the group.

Both organizations have been linked to Neville Roy Singham, a financier who has been accused of funding groups to advance Chinese talking points as well as a network of anti-Israel protest groups, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute. 

Separately, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) urged authorities to investigate the murders as a hate crime and a domestic terrorist attack, which Interim U.S. Attorney in Washington Jeanine Pirro said is currently being explored.

“In light of this horrific attack, I respectfully request you immediately launch an investigation into this hate crime and act of domestic terrorism,” Moreno said. “The city of Washington D.C. must also conduct a full review of the security failures that allowed this terrorist attack to happen.”

Moreno also called for full funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and that Department of Justice law enforcement grants be used to protect religious institutions. He asked local and federal officials to review how the shooting occurred.

Rodriguez was charged in Washington with two counts of first- degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a violent crime. He is eligible for the death penalty, according to Pirro.

Antisemitic violence struck at the heart of the nation’s capital on Wednesday evening when an assailant shot and killed two Israeli embassy employees outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

“Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” embassy spokesperson Tal Naim Cohen said in a statement. “We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States.”

Officials said there was no ongoing threat to public safety and that a suspect had been arrested.

“American Jewish Committee (AJC) can confirm that we hosted an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. this evening,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue. At this moment, as we await more information from the police about exactly what transpired, our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”

President Donald Trump said in a statement, “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said that a man and woman were killed in the incident. Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter said that the two victims were a young couple and embassy employees who were planning to get engaged next week in Jerusalem — the man purchased a ring earlier this week.

Eyewitness Paige Siegel, who was a guest at the event, told Jewish Insider that she heard two sets of multiple shots ring out, and then an individual, who police have since identified as suspected shooter Elias Rodriguez, entered the building appearing disoriented and panicked, seconds after the shooting ended. She said security allowed the man in, as well as two other women separately.

Siegel said she spoke to the man, asking him if he had been shot. He appeared panicked and was mumbling and repeatedly told bystanders to call the police. Siegel said that she felt the man was suspicious.

JoJo Drake Kalin, a member of AJC’s DC Young Professional Board and an organizer of the event, also told JI the man appeared disheveled and out of breath when he entered the building. Kalin assumed he had been a bystander to the shooting who needed assistance and she handed him a glass of water.

Siegel said that the man was sitting in the building in a state of distress for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, and she and a friend engaged him in conversation, informing him that he was in the Jewish museum.

After Siegel said that, she said the man started screaming, “I did it, I did it. Free Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” and opened a backpack, withdrawing a red Keffiyeh. She said that an officer, who had already arrived, detained the man and took him outside. She said that she subsequently saw security footage of Rodriguez shooting the female and identified the shooter as the same individual. Kalin said that some attendees stayed for several hours at the museum into the night to be debriefed by police.

A short video obtained by JI showed an individual in the lobby of the museum chanting “Free, free Palestine” being detained by police and removed from the building.

A video obtained by Jewish Insider shows the suspected shooter, identified by police as Elias Rodriguez, in the lobby of the Capital Jewish Museum chanting “free, free Palestine” as he is detained by police and removed from the building.

Full story: https://t.co/ZGZBj9agQx pic.twitter.com/zZUbTvovFm

— Jewish Insider (@J_Insider) May 22, 2025

Smith said in a press conference that the suspect, Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Chicago, opened fire on a group of four outside the museum, and then entered the building and was detained by event security. Smith said that Rodriguez, once in custody, implied that he carried out the shooting and chanted “free, free Palestine.”

Smith said Rodriguez had been pacing outside the event before the altercation.

Leiter said that he had spoken to President Donald Trump, who vowed that the administration would do everything it can to fight antisemitism and demonization and delegitimization of Israel.

“We’ll stand together tall and firm and confront this moral depravity without fear,” Leiter said.

Smith said that police would coordinate with local Jewish organizations to ensure sufficient security. She said police had not received any intelligence warning of the attack.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said, “we will not tolerate antisemitism,” and said the city would continue to assist Jewish organizations with security grants.

FBI officials and Attorney General Pam Bondi and interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro joined the response alongside D.C. police.

“We are a resilient people. The people of Israel are a resilient people. The people of the United States of America are a resilient people. Together, we won’t be afraid. Together we will stand and overcome moral depravity of people who think they’re going to achieve political gains through murder,” Leiter said. 

According to an invitation to the event viewed by JI, the event planned to discuss efforts to respond to humanitarian crises in the Middle East and North Africa, including in Gaza.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, described the shooting as a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told JI, “I’ve been informed of the tragic shooting that occurred outside of the Capitol Jewish Museum tonight in Washington D.C. We are monitoring the situation as more details become known and lifting up the victim’s families in our prayers.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a post, “This sickening shooting seems to be another horrific instance of antisemitism which as we know is all too rampant in our society.”

Richard Priem, the CEO of the Community Security Service, told eJewishPhilanthropy that there are still “so many unknowns” about the shooting, namely if it was a sophisticated attack specifically targeting Israeli Embassy staff or an attack more generally against the Jewish event itself. In any case, the organization called for “increased situational awareness” at Jewish institutions going forward, particularly ahead of Shabbat.

“Anytime there’s an attack, certain people get activated and think, ’Now’s the time,’” Priem said. “But we don’t know yet if there might be a direct correlated threat.”

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross contributed reporting

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be FBI director, vowed to make counterterrorism a priority under his leadership during his confirmation hearing on Thursday, telling senators that the threat of a major terrorist attack is “as high as I’ve ever seen it.”

Patel, a Trump loyalist and longtime Republican operative, referenced his concerns about terrorism repeatedly in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying in his opening statement that two terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas on New Year’s Day “serve as a stark reminder that our national security is at threat, both internally and externally.”

Patel also touted his experience as a counterterrorism prosecutor in the Justice Department’s National Security Division during the Obama administration and senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council in Trump’s first term.

Asked by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) what the bureau should be doing to prevent future terrorist attacks, Patel replied, “Working hand in glove with our intelligence community and obtaining information that directly relates to the FBI’s criminal mandate on an intelligence basis.”

“Thwarting and prosecuting and stopping any terrorist attacks here and any homegrown activities abroad that are directed at the United States of America, along with countermanding the CCP espionage rings in this country, which dovetail with the foreign terrorist organization activity,” he told Cruz. 

Patel later told Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that the “top areas of concern” affecting national security “have remained unchanged and the threat dynamic has increased.” Among those areas of concerns were “thwarting terrorist activities and terrorist attacks here and overseas against our citizens and our allies,” “CCP espionage, which is running rampant these last five years through our country including our cyber-infrastructure and our agricultural properties” and “taking on Iran, the No. 1 state-sponsor of terror, and any other adversary that wishes to harm America.”

Speaking to Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) about returning the FBI to its “core mission” of fighting crime, Patel said that he planned to prioritize the issue of narcotics trafficking, something he described as key to handling both violent crime and national security. 

“Whether we prioritize going after violent crime and national security, we cannot defend against either of those successfully unless we go after the underlying criminal nexus there. Whether it’s human trafficking, whether it’s terrorism, whether it’s opioids and whether it’s just outright gang violence, the intersection there is narcot trafficking,” Patel said.”It is the underlying underbelly, the evil, illegal underbelly of all those operations. We have not prioritized, in my opinion, as a law enforcement agency, the collective power we can rain down on criminal narcot trafficking networks.”

Patel added that he’d like to work with Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, on setting up a task force to share information on criminal networks with local law enforcement.

“I believe if we are successful in actually crippling the narcot trafficking networks we will see a decrease, monumental, in violent crime and at the same time protect American national security,” he said.

Patel faced heavy criticism from Democrats on the committee about his litany of past public comments vowing to rid the FBI of Trump’s enemies and support for those convicted for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and other conspiracy theories. Patel defended himself by walking back some prior statements or arguing they were being presented out of context. 

Following a difficult set of questioning by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the top Democrat on the committee, Patel defended his appearances on programs hosted by fringe political figures — including at least one antisemitic conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier — arguing he was not associated with those individuals by merely going on their shows to “take on people who are putting on conspiratorial theories and to devow them of their false impressions.”

“I don’t believe I’m guilty by association and I certainly don’t believe that an individual who is the first minority to serve as the deputy director of national intelligence for this country is a racist in any way,” Patel said. “And I detest any conjecture to the contrary.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Patel that he expected him to not operate from a place of vengeance and instructed him to uplift those at the bureau doing honest, apolitical work in his role as the nation’s chief law enforcement agent. 

Kennedy pointed to the old adage that, “two wrongs don’t make a right, but they do make it even,” noting that he thought the saying was misguided and “the wrong approach” to “reforming the FBI and the Justice Department.”

“There’s some good people at the FBI, and there’s been and may still be some bad people there,” Kennedy said. “You’ve got to find out who the bad people are and get rid of them in accordance with due process and the rule of law. And then you’ve got to lift up the good people. Don’t go over there and burn that place down. Go over there and make it better.”

The subject of Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Act came up repeatedly, with members on both sides of the aisle seeking clarity on Patel’s position on recent reforms and the need for additional changes. Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Act provides the government with surveillance authorities lawmakers describe as essential to the U.S. intelligence apparatus, though some on the far-right have opposed it as an unconstitutional overreach and have claimed it was misused to target Trump allies. Lawmakers will need to re-authorize the powers next year.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed the matter at length with Patel during the hearing, defending the law as a necessary tool for the intelligence community, something Patel concurred with. 

“The issue for me is not with FISA and 702. The issue has been those that have been in government service and abused it in the past. So we must work with Congress to provide the protections necessary for American citizens,” Patel said.

He said he did not believe warrants should be required to utilize those authorities.

“Dealing with these matters, including hostage rescue operations in real-time, which we use FISA collection to find and save American hostages,” he added. “Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comportive with the requirement to protect American citizenry. I’m all open to working with Congress on finding a better way forward but right now, these improvements that you’ve made go a long way.”

The Anti-Defamation League has tapped longtime FBI official Gregory Ehrie to oversee the group’s relationship with law enforcement.

Ehrie, who joined the ADL as its vice president for law enforcement and analysis on May 18, worked in a number of prominent roles in the FBI during his 22-year service, including as section chief of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section, special agent in charge of the New York Office Intelligence Division and most recently, special agent in charge of the Newark, New Jersey, office. 

Ehrie’s FBI career frequently brought him in contact with the ADL — he attended several ADL seminars and worked with the organization on law enforcement issues. 

“Moving on from the Bureau, I can’t think of a better organization I’d want to join,” he said in an interview with Jewish Insider. “I think my background in law enforcement and my interactions with them really puts me in a unique position to enhance and forward the ADL mission.”

Ehrie’s role places him in charge of the organization’s efforts to build partnerships between law enforcement and both the ADL and the public at large. “I want to get to know both sides,” he said, “and hopefully [I] can translate the languages so we can better not only protect our communities but have a more respectful relationship.”

Though he hails from Irish ancestors, Ehrie said he has “a great affinity” for the Jewish community, fostered by his work in and with the community over several decades. In 2005 and 2006, he spent a year living on the Ramat Rachel kibbutz in Jerusalem learning Arabic for the FBI. Last year, he led the FBI’s Newark office during the investigation into the December attack on a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, N.J.

Ehrie described his time in Jerusalem as “one of the highlights of my life.” “Beautiful country, wonderful, strong people with a proud history and heritage, facing a lot of challenges throughout their history, even today,” he said. “But I found them to be, you know, some of the most caring people and… so welcoming, so open.”

Ehrie arrives at the ADL at a time when the relationship between the public and law enforcement is under severe stress. More than a week of protests against police brutality around the country have, in many cities, elevated tensions between community members and authorities. 

The relationship between the public and law enforcement “is a marriage without divorce, as we like to call it,” Ehrie said. “So I hope… that I can in some way assist the ADL whose mission is to help these communities… to assist them in making this better and repairing this damage.”