A Massachusetts man pleaded responsible on Monday to costs that he threatened to kill Jews and bomb a synagogue in a case that US prosecutors stated mirrored a rising nationwide torrent of antisemitism after the Israel-Hamas battle in Gaza started final 12 months.
John Reardon, throughout a listening to in Boston federal court docket, pleaded responsible to threatening to bomb the Congregation Agudas Achim and threatening to kill kids in a voicemail he left with the Attleboro, Massachusetts-based synagogue in January.
“This defendant’s threats to bomb synagogues and kill Jewish kids stoked worry within the hearts of congregants at a time when Jews are already dealing with a disturbing improve in threats,” the US lawyer common, Merrick Garland, stated in an announcement.
The rising variety of threats adopted the 7 October 2023 assault by Hamas that killed about 1,200 Israelis and prompted the battle in Gaza. Israel’s 13-month marketing campaign in Gaza has killed greater than 44,000 folks and displaced practically all of the territory’s inhabitants at the least as soon as, in response to Gaza officers.
Prosecutors stated that in his two-minute voicemail, Reardon, 59, stated: “You do understand that by supporting genocide meaning it’s OK for folks to commit genocide towards you.”
Minutes later, Reardon referred to as a distinct synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts, and left a voicemail threatening the “killing of all Jews” and “stomping their infants useless into the bottom”, in response to court docket paperwork.
He pleaded responsible to threat-related costs regarding these calls in addition to a stalking cost associated to what prosecutors say have been 98 calls he positioned to the Israeli consulate in Boston beginning in October 2023.
Investigators discovered about these calls after Reardon’s arrest in January. In a lot of these calls, he made harassing or intimidating statements, prosecutors stated.
As a part of a plea settlement, prosecutors have agreed to suggest that Reardon, of Millis, Massachusetts, be sentenced to as much as two and a half years in jail. US district decide Julia Kobick scheduled his sentencing for 14 August.
Reardon’s lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
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