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(JTA) — A person who as soon as reported about political extremism in Portland, Oregon, was arrested this week in reference to a string of vandalism incidents at synagogues and a mosque there.
Michael Bivins was charged with one rely of arson and three counts of legal mischief, in accordance with Willamette Week, the weekly unbiased newspaper the place a lot of his articles appeared.
The fees stemmed from three incidents at native homes of worship: a rock thrown via a window at Congregation Shir Tikvah April 30; a hearth and graffiti at Congregation Beth Israel on Might 2 and 4; and a hearth on the Muslim Group Heart of Portland Might 3.
Bivins had taken photographs and video at clashes between police and protesters in Portland, the place the Trump administration cracked down on protesters in 2020, in accordance with native media. (The Oregon legal professional basic who battled Trump is a Beth Israel congregant.) His Twitter account exhibits that he extra lately had begun posting anti-mask content material and conspiracy theories concerning the Biden administration and had additionally skilled housing instability within the final 12 months.
Police and native Jewish leaders initially mentioned they didn’t consider the incidents have been related.
“The message I’m giving to my neighborhood is that I don’t need anybody sitting in concern,” Congregation Beth Israel Rabbi Michael Cahana advised Oregon Public Broadcasting after the primary incident there. “We don’t consider that that is half of a bigger menace. There haven’t been different antisemitic incidents reported round city.”
However because the string continued and the vandal was caught on video, police made the connection. Jewish advocacy teams akin to StandWithUs and StopAntisemitism publicized the incidents, connecting them to a broader spike in reported incidents of antisemitism.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who’s Jewish and likewise a Beth Israel member, denounced the vandalism there, which included the phrases “Die Juden” spray-painted on an outdoor wall.
“Hate speech and vandalism must not ever be allowed to terrorize Portland or any neighborhood,” Wyden tweeted. “I stand with Rabbi Cahana and our complete synagogue by including my voice to his when he says all of us have to be vigilant in opposition to these assaults.”
After Bivins’ arrest, which got here after he entered an area TV station and requested to talk with a reporter there, Cahana mentioned the episode underscore the significance of reporting even seemingly minor incidents.
“This sequence of occasions, which has shaken our neighborhood, is a vital reminder that even incidents which appear random and unrelated or too minor to trouble with, must be correctly reported,” he wrote in a letter to congregants. “We’re all liable for each other.”
The incidents on the synagogues got here simply after Yom Hashoah, the Jewish Holocaust memorial day, whereas the mosque hearth got here simply after Eid, the pageant to mark the tip of Ramadan.
The incidents aren’t the primary at Portland-area synagogues in recent times. Beth Israel was the positioning of a fireplace in late 2020; that 12 months, Chabad Jewish facilities within the metropolis skilled two fires.
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