‘Horrific antisemitic attack’ on American, who served in IDF, in St. Louis area, Terrell says

Menachem Wecker

Police crime scene tape. Credit: Kat Wilcox/Pexels.

Leo Terrell, chair of the federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism at the U.S. Justice Department and a civil-rights attorney of 35 years, wrote on social media on Tuesday that the Israeli embassy told him about a “horrific antisemitic attack” in St. Louis, where a U.S. citizen who served in the Israeli military, as well as his family and friends, were targeted.

Graphic footage, which Terrell reviewed, showed cars belonging to the citizen, his family and friends were “set on fire and destroyed,” Terrell wrote. “Hateful graffiti outside the family’s home accused him of being a murderer and called for death to the Israel Defense Forces.”

“What I saw in the graphic videos, I saw hate,” Terrell told JNS. “I saw hate because of one’s religion, and I saw hate for an American who served as an IDF member in the Israeli army. That’s what I saw.” (JNS sought comment from the Israeli embassy in Washington.)

Terrell told JNS that U.S. President Donald Trump and Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, aren’t going to tolerate Jew-hatred.

“I’m certainly not going to tolerate it as the head of the task force,” he told JNS. “So once I saw it, I immediately contacted the FBI.”

“I looked at the footage, found it offensive and called the FBI, sent them the information and made sure Attorney General Bondi was aware of everything,” he said. “The FBI—I cannot disclose what happened, but they are on the ground along with local authorities, and the perpetrators are going to face justice.”

On social media, Terrell wrote that he spoke directly with the family whose property was attacked. “I am outraged. Antisemitic violence has no place in America, not in St. Louis and not anywhere,” he wrote. “If you commit antisemitic hate crimes, you will be caught, and you will be held accountable.”

Cpl. Jenny Schwartz, community services and public information officer at the Clayton Police Department in Clayton, Mo., which is adjacent to St. Louis, told JNS that the department is “still actively investigating the suspicious fire and hateful message discovered in the 7500 block of Westmoreland Avenue this morning.”

“We are working diligently to identify the individual or individuals responsible for this act, and urge anyone with information that may assist in our investigation to contact the Clayton Detective Bureau,” she said.

The Clayton Police Department stated that it was probing a “suspicious fire and hate crime.”

“Just after 3 a.m., responding officers discovered that three vehicles had been damaged by a fire, believed to have been intentionally set,” the department stated. “Additionally, officers located antisemitic graffiti written in the roadway. No injuries were reported.”

The department stated that it believes that the victim, who lives in Clayton, was “specifically targeted.” It is investigating the incident as a hate crime.

“There are no indications of any further threat to the community,” it said. “The FBI and the St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit have been requested to assist with the investigation.”

‘Pure, unadulterated hate’

Terrell told JNS that one must “be in denial” to doubt that “antisemitism is rampant.”

“People don’t react to it properly, and if it wasn’t for the Trump administration, I can assure you you wouldn’t have the FBI on the ground right now. You wouldn’t have Pam Bondi involved,” he said. “People are turning their backs on this.”

The fact that Trump is president has given hope to Jewish Americans and Israelis that “we’re going to put down antisemitism,” according to Terrell. “It’s a different administration, and we’re very aggressive on antisemitism.”

“We’re trying to provide a deterrent to these haters, and there are a lot of them,” he said.

JNS asked the Justice Department official if local law enforcement ought to contact the FBI about incidents of alleged Jew-hatred, given the rise in antisemitism. Terrell declined to speak about specific local law enforcement in this instance.

“The federal government is willing to come and help any local official combat antisemitism,” he said, broadly. “We have to assume that they know what ‘antisemitism’ is. I’m not going to make that assumption. Some individuals might just look at this as arson.”

“The federal government, under the Trump and Pam Bondi administration—we’re everywhere,” Terrell told JNS. “That’s why we jumped on this today. We found out. We jumped on it.”

JNS asked Terrell how he would respond if someone said that this incident targeted an American because he fought in the Israeli military and not because he’s Jewish.

“I find that hypothetical applicable to this situation—I want to make sure you hear this—offensive. Why? You can say whatever you want. Look at the video. Look at the burning. Look at the vehicle. Look at the property damage,” he said.

“This is the biggest problem that people have had—conflating First Amendment speech with illegal conduct,” he told JNS. “First Amendment speech, whether it is anti-Israel or antisemitic, is thrown out the window when you have that type of conduct. It’s criminal.”

“Your question is what’s being used by a lot of media and a lot of these protesters. ‘This is the First Amendment.’ Hell no. It’s not,” he said. “I’ve never seen antisemitism, Jew-hatred, in my life as severe as it is, other than the fact that I taught it as a history teacher, when I wasn’t alive, about World War II.”

“This is pure, unadulterated hate,” he said.

Terrell told JNS that the Biden administration “did nothing.” The Trump administration “has done wonders on the college campuses, prosecuting hate crimes,” he said. “It’s not different. It’s day and night.”

JNS asked Terrell if he is optimistic that the administration can make major headway in responding to Jew-hatred in the country, or if antisemitism is so pervasive that it will remain a major problem despite the federal government’s efforts.

“We got some Trump all-stars. We got Marco Rubio, and his position is clear,” he said of the U.S. secretary of state. “We got Pam Bondi. We got yours truly. And so do I think there’s going to be some improvement? Yes.”

But Terrell’s concern is that “we have, in my opinion, up until 2028 to put up guardrails to protect Jews in this country.”

“Please quote this,” he said, “there is no other president who has been a better friend to Jewish Americans than Donald J. Trump. I’ve been on this Earth for a long time. I can say that without any hesitation.”

“I don’t know what is going to happen after 2028,” he added. “We are on a mission to set up protective guardrails for Jewish American citizens in this country. Pam Bondi, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth,” the U.S. defense secretary, “President Trump and a cast of thousands. I can guarantee you we’re focused.”

Anti-Jewish Hate Crimes Hit Record High in 2024, FBI Data Shows

Dion J. Pierre

FBI agents and NYPD officers work near the scene of a reported shooter situation in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US, July 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Antisemitic hate crimes in the US continued to add up to record-setting and harrowing statistical figures in 2024, according to the latest data issued by the FBI on Tuesday, prompting calls by Jewish leaders for a society-wide intervention.

Even as hate crimes decreased overall, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, has been experienced by a demographic group which composes just 2 percent of the US population.

“As the Jewish community is still reeling from two deadly antisemitic attacks in the past few months, the record-high number of anti-Jewish hate crime incidents tracked by the FBI in 2024 is consistent with ADL’s reporting and, more importantly, with the Jewish community’s current lived experience,” Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said in a statement on Tuesday. “Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, Jewish Americans have not had a moment of respite and have experienced antisemitism at K-12 school, on college campuses, in the public square, at work, and Jewish institutions.”

Ted Deutch, chief executive officer of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), also commented, saying, “Leaders of every kind — teachers, law enforcement officers, government officials, business owners, university presidents — must confront antisemitism head-on. Jews are being targeted not just out of hate, but because some wrongly believe that violence or intimidation is justified by global events.”

A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offences, or about 9 percent of the total.

Antisemitic hate crimes kept federal and local law enforcement agents busy throughout 2024, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.

In November, for example, the US Department of Justice secured the conviction of a Massachusetts man, John Reardon, 59, who threatened to perpetrate mass killings of Jews. Over several months, Reardon called Jewish institutions across Massachusetts, proclaiming that he would kill Jewish men, women, and children in their houses of worship. His terroristic menacing included promises to plant bombs in synagogues in the cities of Sharon and Attleboro, as well as making 98 calls to the Israeli Consulate in Boston, a behavior which began on Oct. 7, 2023, and ended just days before his apprehension by law enforcement in January.

In New York City, meanwhile, the Jewish community in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn endured a violent series of robberies and other attacks. In one instance, three masked men attempted to rob a Hasidic man after stalking him through the neighborhood. Before then, two men beat a middle-aged Hasidic man after he refused to surrender his cell phone in compliance with what appears to have been an attempted robbery. Additionally, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily Jewish neighborhood, and less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face.

The wave of hatred has not relented in 2025.

In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”

Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.

Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.

“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the San Francisco district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.