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St. Louis area police announce $42,000 for info on anti-Israel hate crime

The hate crime included burning cars and writing “death to the IDF” on the street, according to the Clayton Police Department in Missouri.

Police Crime Scene Yellow Tape
Police tape. Credit: Tex Texin/Creative Commons.

The Clayton Police Department in Clayton, Mo., in the St. Louis area, announced several incentives for people to come forward with information about an Aug. 5 incident that it is investigating as an anti-Israel hate crime.

Crimestoppers is offering up to $2,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case. Separately, the Jewish National Defense Network is offering an additional $10,000 for information leading to the identification of the responsible suspect or suspects, and the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and the Anti-Defamation League are each offering another $15,000 for information that results in an arrest and conviction, the police department stated.

The latter $30,000 would be paid after the conviction, it said.

The police department said that three cars were set on fire in the early morning hours on Aug. 5, and graffiti on the street stated “death to the IDF.”

“We urge anyone who lives or works in the neighborhood or surrounding area to review their surveillance systems for anything that may aid the investigation,” the police department said. “We are specifically seeking video footage or still images captured between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Aug. 5, 2025, from doorbell cameras, dashcams or private security systems.”

“What I saw in the graphic videos, I saw hate,” Leo Terrell, chair of the federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism at the U.S. Department of Justice, told JNS on Aug. 5. “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.”

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