Ariel Collazo Ramos, 32, of High Point, N.C., was sentenced to five years in prison—the statutory maximum—and then three years of supervised release on Wednesday for threatening to kill Georgia state representative Esther Panitch and the rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Macon, Ga.
“Both women publicly backed the passage of Georgia House Bill 30, the state’s first legislation defining antisemitism,” the U.S. Justice Department said.
“Individuals like this defendant will face federal prosecution for criminal acts driven by hatred,” stated William Keyes, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “This case underscores that crimes rooted in antisemitism and any hate crime against race, religion or protected groups will be prioritized.”
Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar, of the Reform congregation Temple Beth Israel, testified in front of the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee to support HB 30, which Panitch cosponsored, in January 2024. The prior June, neo-Nazis had gathered outside the temple on Shabbat, as the congregation worshiped inside.
The morning that the bill was signed into law, Jan. 31, 2024, Ramos sent Panitch an antisemitic postcard, and he sent another antisemitic card to Bahar the following day, according to the Justice Department.
“At the time, Ramos sold candles, postcards and other products depicting racial, antisemitic and white nationalist themes out of his home,” it said.
The postcards that he sent to Bahar’s and Panitch’s homes referred to “gas the Jews,” Zyklon B (which the Nazis used to murder Jews) and Jews being rats, per the department.
“Both Rabbi Bahar and Rep. Panitch testified at trial the steps they took for their own safety in response to receiving the threatening postcards,” the Justice Department said. “Rabbi Bahar and Rep. Panitch had family members murdered by Nazis using Zyklon B during the Holocaust.”
Panitch told JNS that “when that postcard arrived at my home on the morning we made history with Georgia’s antisemitism definition bill, it was meant to silence us. It didn’t.”
“Rabbi Bahar and I testified at trial, the jury convicted and testified again at the sentencing. The court imposed the fullest sentence the law allows,” she said.
The representative thanked the U.S. Justice Department, former U.S. attorney Peter Leary and Keyes for “recognizing the need to pursue this case and doing the hard work.”
“To the 150,000 Jewish Georgians I’m proud to stand for: the system worked,” she told JNS. “To anyone who thinks they can threaten us into silence—think again.”
