MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — A Miami Beach man, arrested in late September after police said he went to a Normandy Isle synagogue and harassed congregants, is accused of committing the same crime at the same temple while out on bond on Thursday ― the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
Miami Beach police first arrested Jonathan Toubes, 25, on hate crime charges on Sept. 22 after they said he went to Temple Moses at 1200 Normandy Drive, near his home, and shouted, “Free Palestine!”, “Christ is King!” and “Get out of my neighborhood!” six days before.
According to an arrest report, on Thursday, officers responded to the temple at around 3:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a disturbance and “were flagged down by several agitated temple members and security personnel” who “began to yell” that it was the same man harassing them previously.
The report states that a security staffer heard Toubes “yell that he hated Jews and he was going to blow the place up” and saw several children “remove their yamakas (sic) as they did not want to appear to be Jewish in fear for their safety.”
Another witness said he saw Toubes roll by the Sephardic Orthodox synagogue on his scooter, film it and get into a “scuffle” with security guards trying to stop him from approaching the house of worship.
Another security officer said he heard Toubes yell the word “violando,” or “raping” in Spanish, along with “several other words in English which he did not understand due to a language barrier.”
Toubes’ “actions placed multiple temple members, to include (children), in fear for their safety as they gathered in front of Temple Moses while they observed Yom Kippur,” police concluded after arresting him on a charge of disturbing a school or religious assembly with a credible threat and ethnic prejudice.
“We have absolute zero tolerance for antisemitic acts within the city of Miami Beach,” Officer Christopher Bess, a Miami Beach Police Department spokesperson, said. “Not only did Jonathan disrupt a congregation, but he instilled fear and intimidated little kids on the most holiest day in the Jewish faith.”
As of Friday, Toubes was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $100,000 bond.
“Our message is very clear: The next couple of weeks, you will see our High Holy Days operational plan in place, which means there will be an increased staffing of law enforcement personnel around faith-based institutions,” Bess said. “And if you believe that you’re going to come to our city and convey antisemitic acts, you will be arrested.”
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