US EditionThey Saw Mississippi’s Largest Synagogue Bombed by the KKK in 1967. Seeing It Now Destroyed by Arson Feels Like ‘Deja Vu’
Two synagogues in Jackson and Giessen suffered arson damage amid a global 21.2% rise in antisemitic incidents since October 2023, authorities confirmed.
- Last week, two synagogues in Jackson, Mississippi, and Giessen, Germany, were targeted in arson attacks, with Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19-year-old suspect, confessing to setting fire to Beth Israel Congregation.
- Authorities say Pittman's own posts reveal motive and influences, as he admitted targeting the synagogue over its `Jewish ties`, posted antisemitic content, and shifted toward TheoBros themes before his psychiatric facility admission.
- Security camera footage shows Pittman pouring gasoline inside Beth Israel, while Giessen surveillance video captures a man setting bins on fire and making a Nazi salute.
- The fire left Beth Israel Congregation, Jackson, Mississippi, severely damaged and temporarily unusable; its library and two Torah scrolls were destroyed while one Holocaust-surviving Torah remained intact behind glass.
- Amid a documented global spike in antisemitism since October 7, 2023, monitors report rising incidents including 9,354 U.S. cases in 2024 and revived trauma from Beth Israel's 1967 KKK bombing.
13 Articles
13 Articles
They saw Mississippi’s largest synagogue bombed by the KKK in 1967. Seeing it now destroyed by arson feels like ‘deja vu’
Nearly 60 years after the Beth Israel Congregation was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, an arson fire forced Jewish people in Jackson, Mississippi to relive the horror of that attack.
Arson attacks target synagogues in Mississippi and Germany as high-profile antisemitic attacks spike
Two synagogues in Jackson, Mississippi, and in the town of Giessen, Germany, were targeted in arson attacks over the past week. On Saturday, Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson was torched, causing extensive damage. The synagogue’s library and officers were destroyed in the fire. Many books and two Torah scrolls went up in flames, and the building is currently inoperable. One Torah scroll, which had survived the Holocaust, was behind glass and s…
Antisemite Torched Historic Mississippi Synagogue
An antisemite confessed to igniting a fire at a historic Mississippi synagogue, destroying two Torah scrolls and damaging five others. The library and administrative offices in the synagogue were reduced to rubble. By Rachel Avraham The Times of Israel reported that an antisemite committed an arson attack inside of Beth Israel Congregation, a historic Mississippi
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