A Sabbath service ended with a protest outside a synagogue in suburban Atlanta.
About a dozen people waved swastika flags and shouted outside the Chabad of Cobb County during a worship service.
“Exercising our first amendment right,” picketer John Minadeo II told WSB-TV.
“This was the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” synagogue member Stewart Levy said.
“The police are allowing it because it is ‘free speech’.” Levy added on Facebook.
Some people living nearby came out and shouted back at the protesters.
“You’re a Nazi and you’re an idiot,” one resident said.
Cobb County Police watched over the protest and said it was peaceful.
Georgia State Rep. Esther Panitch said it occurred as the synagogue held a summer camp for Jewish children.
“White supremacists have shown themselves to be the bottom-feeding haters they have always been,” Panitch said. She called the protesters “unhinged maniacs.”
The Anti-Defamation League said the protest was part of a tour of Georgia by an antisemitic group.East Cobb News identified the group as the Goyim Defense League.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a similar protest occurred Friday afternoon in Macon. WMAZ-TV reported Minadeo was arrested there for shouting obscenities through a bullhorn.
“Nationally, we are seeing antisemitic incidents at an all-time record high in 2022,” ADL regional director Eytan Davidson said.
One sign at Saturday’s protest claimed “every single aspect of abortion is Jewish.” Haaretz notes Jewish women have filed court challenges to abortion restrictions in several states on grounds of religious freedom.
Another sign made a similar claim about the Federal Reserve being Jewish. But Wikipedia indicates current Fed Chair Jerome Powell is Episcopalian.
Cobb County was the scene of a lynching of a Jew in 1915. It occurred after Leo Frank’s death sentence for a rape and murder was commuted
The Biden administration announced a national strategy to fight antisemitism in late May. It promises 100 executive actions will take place within a year, including workshops organized by the Department of Homeland Security.
* Article From: Knewz
