ADL Chief Blames Mamdani After Synagogue Attack

Brad Laschinger, the 30-year-old man who threw a brick through the window of a Chabad synagogue in Sarasota, Fla., was apparently inspired by social media.

“Laschinger claims that the same morning he saw propaganda on social media and that was making him mad,” the Sarasota Police Department said in a statement. “He admitted to detectives that he threw the brick at the window of the synagogue because it was a Jewish place of worship.”

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Laschinger committed the act of vandalism last Wednesday. Surveillance video captured him throwing the brick with his head wrapped in a blue towel.

“Laschinger is facing a felony charge of criminal mischief of a religious building as a hate crime,” the police stated.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt blamed the mayor of New York City, adding an important detail: The Jew hater had been watching Mamdani videos.

“Hey, NYC Mayor Mamdani — Law enforcement says the man they arrested for attacking a synagogue in Sarasota, FL, was motivated by social media propaganda. The man reportedly reposted your video demonizing the Jewish state,” Greenblatt wrote on X in a post directed at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“Words have consequences,” the Jewish leader said in his rebuke to the mayor. “Your inflammatory rhetoric can lead to violence.”

“Jewish people and institutions are being attacked in NYC and across the country because of hateful and demonizing rhetoric,” he added. “The Jewish community deserves leaders who will confront antisemitism and protect Jewish New Yorkers, not fan the flames of hate.”