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2023-12-09 Home Front: WoT
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Man arrested after firing shots at Albany, NY, synagogue, shouting ‘Free Palestine’
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[IsraelTimes] Attack on house of worship, with preschool, highlights the steep rise in antisemitic hate crimes outside Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and Israel’s war on the terror group
A 28-year-old man was arrested after allegedly firing two shots outside Temple Israel in Albany, New York, on Thursday, the first night of Hanukkah, while shouting "Free Paleostine."
There were no injuries in the shooting on the premises of the Conservative synagogue in New York’s capital, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement, adding that she had spoken with the congregation’s rabbi. She said in a press briefing, however, that the synagogue has an onsite nursery school, "with at least two dozen children, preschoolers, who were on the premises." She added that the facility went into lockdown but that all children have been released safely to their parents.
Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, 28, was arrested at the scene and will appear in court Friday morning on firearms charges, according to a statement by the FBI. Additional charges, including hate crimes charges, could follow, law enforcement officials said.
The suspect shouted "Free Paleostine" during the incident, the local police chief, Eric Hawkins, said during a presser Thursday evening, confirming reporting by Albany’s Times Union newspaper.
The incident took place on the two-month anniversary of Hamas
 ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
’s October 7 massacre as US Jews grapple with a surge in antisemitism following the onslaught and Israel’s war on Hamas in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
Hochul said she had directed the New York State Police and the state’s national guard to be on high alert and step up patrols of at-risk sites for Hanukkah, such as synagogues, yeshivas and community centers throughout the state — including New York City, which is home to the largest Jewish population in the United States.
"Any act of antisemitism is unacceptable, and undermining public safety at a synagogue on the first night of Hanukkah is even more deplorable," Hochul said. "We reject hate, antisemitism and violence in all forms."
In the briefing, Hochul noted that the synagogue had been one of several targeted with bomb threats in September.
Law enforcement and Jewish community security groups have reported a surge in antisemitism since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. In New York City, the NYPD reported 62 antisemitic hate crimes last month and 69 attacks in October, a steep increase. Anti-Jewish incidents made up 65% of all hate crimes reported to police last month. There is no comparable data available for antisemitic hate crimes in upstate New York.
Synagogues and other Jewish institutions have been targeted in the wave of hate crimes. Last week, bomb threats were made against 15 synagogues in New York State, including five in upstate areas. The threats were made as part of a campaign intended to interrupt synagogue operations by forcing law enforcement to go to a location, and there did not appear to be any actual danger to the targets, said the director of the Jewish security group the Community Security Initiative, Mitch Silber.
The man arrested for firing a shotgun into the air outside a Jewish temple in upstate New York been federally charged, officials say.
Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, who officials say fired the shotgun twice outside a synagogue in Albany yesterday, has been charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, FBI spokesperson Sarah Ruane says in a statement praising the “swift coordination” between federal, state and local law enforcement.
Alkhader, 28, is a US citizen who was born in Iraq and lives in Schenectady, which is near Albany. He told officers who questioned him that events in the Middle East “have impacted him,” according to court papers.
Alkhader was expected to appear in a federal courtroom in Albany today.
No attorney who could speak for Alkhader had been assigned as of this morning, and no phone number was listed for him in public records.
The episode in New York’s capital city happened on the first night of Hanukkah amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza.
Officials say Alkhader is the man who was arrested shortly after the shots were fired at Temple Israel at around 2 p.m. yesterday. Police did not initially release the man’s name, but Governor Kathy Hochul said he was a local resident.
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said the man said “Free Palestine” when officers arrested him.
No one was injured in the incident, which the chief said was being investigated as a hate crime.
A 28-year-old man accused of firing two rounds from a shotgun into the air outside Temple Israel on Thursday afternoon has been charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person because he allegedly admitted to using marijuana regularly when he was being interviewed by the members of a federal task force following his arrest.
The criminal complaint indicates that Alkhader had waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with law enforcement officers on Thursday after he was taken into custody and brought to the Albany Police Department.
Alkhader made a brief appearance Friday morning in federal court. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a gray overcoat, he told U.S. Magistrate Judge Christian Hummel that he struggled to understand English. “My English is limited,” he said.
His attorney, a federal public defender, waived Alkhader’s right to seek release from custody but told the court they may seek a hearing at a later date. Alkhader is being held at the Albany County jail.
The ATF task force charged Alkhader on Thursday with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Law enforcement sources told the Times Union that because the incident involved a shotgun it’s unclear whether state charges could have been filed against Alkhader. But the federal statute that has been on the books for more than 50 years prohibits someone who regularly uses narcotics from possessing a firearm. Marijuana is legal in New York and more than two dozen other states but it remains a Schedule 1 prohibited narcotic under the federal Controlled Substances Act. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2023-12-09 2023-12-09 03:27||
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