Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Florida man accused of threatening to ‘hunt’ Jews ordered held pending trial

The man, who allegedly said that “the Austrian painter was correct,” waived his right to a detention hearing, according to court filings.

Gavel, Court
Gavel. Credit: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels.

A federal magistrate judge ordered on Thursday that Duncan Fraser MacDonald, a Florida man indicted for allegedly threatening to kill Jews, be held in custody pending trial.

MacDonald waived his right to a detention hearing after prosecutors sought to keep him jailed, according to an order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

MacDonald, of Clay County, Fla., faces a count of transmitting a threat to injure. He allegedly posted videos on social media displaying guns and threatening to “hunt” Jews.

He also allegedly threatened to “take them out, because the Austrian painter was correct,” referring to Adolf Hitler.

A Jewish community security director alerted the FBI to the videos on Sept. 17, according to the criminal complaint.

Jessica Russak-Hoffman is a reporter for JNS in Seattle.
“This political environment could discourage congressional committee staff and federal agency personnel from pursuing investigations or enforcement actions involving antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall of the Brandeis Center told JNS.
“They get social credit within their political bases in terms of talking about settler violence and and taking up the side of the Palestinians on issues between them and Israel,” Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute told JNS.
The U.S. envoy also said antisemitism “didn’t exist” during his upbringing and warned of an unintended clash between Israel and Turkey.
“There is not, and there will not be, a Palestinian state,” the Israeli prime minister pledged. He also called for the corruption trial against him to be dropped.