The FBI Stopped a Synagogue Plot
A Pittsburgh man had a rifle, cyanide, and what he called his mission.
A Pittsburgh-area man stockpiled a rifle and cyanide for a "mission" against synagogues, the FBI says. Jonathan Kramer, 21, allegedly spent months on encrypted platforms discussing poisoning synagogue food, plus arson and vehicle attacks. He'd "already secured a rifle and approximately 190 rounds," said Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg. No synagogue was named. 1
A father of six was shot dead at a West Bank spring hours before Yom Kippur, and commandos caught his killer at a hospital. Netanel Shukrun was immersing with his eldest son near Neve Tzuf when a gunman opened fire from a car. Duvdevan Unit troops arrested the wounded shooter there hours later. 2
Ed Sheeran finally addressed the Macklemore fallout on stage, and satisfied basically no one. At his first tour stop since dropping the rapper, before 50,000 fans in Philadelphia, Sheeran called October 7 "horrific" and Gaza "catastrophic and unjustifiable," then called the past week "one of the worst of my life." 3
The bill fixing "how do we not get shot at services" took a firebombing to write. The Safe Spaces for All Act, from Reps. Joe Neguse and Don Bacon, would let synagogues put Nonprofit Security Grant Program money toward full-time guards instead of only contracted ones, and use up to 5% of a grant to fill out the grant application. It's a real fix. The ADL and Jewish Federations of North America backed it. But read that grant-writing detail again: synagogues would spend security money proving, in paperwork, that they deserve protection. That's the actual scandal, and it predates this bill by years. A congregation that needs an armed guard on Shabbat shouldn't also need a grant writer. 4
Today is Yom Kippur, 10 Tishrei on the calendar. It's also the one evening of the year Jews wear the tallit, since every other service saves it for daytime. 56
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