Hate Crimes
Richard John Franklin, 65, is accused of making the threat in the office of a state representative, where he went to address an issue related to “outstanding taxes.”
Syeda Khatun was convicted of racially aggravated assault and harassment after verbally abusing children and striking a father.
Jews have been targets of about 15% of religion-based hate crimes since Jan. 1, compared to 2% each for Sikhs and Muslims, and 1% for Arabs.
Visitors described dozens surrounding, spitting at and threatening them for 90 minutes after they left a synagogue following Shabbat services.
Police arrested men who aimed an imitation weapon toward the house of worship from an SUV on Shabbat.
The assailant swung a parking pylon at the victim, yelling that Jews are “baby killers committing genocide.”
“These cannot become just another set of statistics,” Rick Chavez Zbur, a member of the state Assembly, told JNS. “They must serve as a call to action.”
Although Jews make up an estimated 3.25% of California residents, anti-Jewish hate crimes made up almost 14.8% of all hate crimes in the state last year.
An FBI affidavit alleges Ryan Thomas Griffin threatened to attack synagogues and federal employees, embraced white supremacist ideology and sought to recruit others for violence.
Abdulkadir Al-Jelani, 58, is due in court on July 1 and faces charges of making the threats and three counts of assault with a weapon.
“This is life for Jews under the leadership of Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” advocacy group StopAntisemitism wrote.
A board member at the Orthodox synagogue told the FBI that members began attending services less frequently after Kevin Charles Pyles allegedly targeted the synagogue in separate July and August 2025 incidents.
Tarek Bazrouk was sentenced to 17 months in prison in October 2025 after attacking three Jewish individuals at different pro-Israel demonstrations in New York.
