Hate Crimes at Central Synagogue

A man faces hate-crime charges after attacking Shabbat worshippers. Larry Montes, 46, disrupted Friday night services at Manhattan's Central Synagogue; as security walked him out, he struck a congregant, damaged property, then spit at and headbutted a guard. He's charged with two hate-crime assault counts and one hate-crime criminal mischief count. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: "A place of worship should never be a crime scene." ¹

U.S. ambassador calls West Bank settlers "terrorists." Settlers from the Tel Talpiot outpost trapped Palestinian families in Qusra on Aug. 11, blocking doors and cutting power and water. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said police went in "to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this." Yesha Council chair Yisrael Ganz called it "serious." ² The backstory →

Prayer books reportedly reached the Temple Mount for the first time. Photos posted Sunday showed Jewish worshippers using siddurim and prostrating on towels there, a further break from the post-1967 rule reserving worship for Muslims. Netanyahu says the policy "has not changed." ³

Adam Sandler has, per his own daughter, peaked as a Jewish dad. On Fallon this week, Sunny Sandler described her father wearing his socks in the pool because "he can't bend to take them off on land," floating until they come off, then turning the removal into a game of catch. She and sister Sadie used to raid his oversized wardrobe, hold Diet Cokes, and complain about the air conditioning. He showed up to the "Don't Say Good Luck" premiere in a flamingo-print polo and track pants, holding an umbrella for the family. He is, unmistakably, somebody's dad. ⁴

Leo Frank, wrongly convicted of murder in a trial the Anti-Defamation League calls "defined by antisemitism," was lynched by a mob in Marietta, Georgia on this day in 1915, two years after ADL's founding, a case it still cites as proof of why it exists. ⁵⁶