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On February 28, an unemployed man from the southern English town of Newhaven urged Facebook users to attack Jewish houses of worship and businesses before asking for a “good recipe for roasted synagogue.”
Michael Brown, 45, posted the message beneath a post by the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign criticizing the U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran, launched that same day.
Brown wrote that people should target synagogues and Jewish businesses “with overripe fruit and stink bombs.” He then urged them to pelt local synagogues with eggs and bags of flour to produce what he called “Jewish Muffins.”
Police were notified of the post the day it appeared and arrested Brown on March 1. He later claimed the message had been a “joke” and that he had not meant to cause offense.
Brown pleaded guilty to sending an offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing message over a public communication network.
District Judge Sam Goozee sentenced Brown at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to eight weeks in prison, suspended for one year. He also ordered Brown to complete 15 rehabilitation activity days and 80 hours of unpaid work.
Goozee ruled that racial hostility aggravated the offense. “It would be inevitable that any member of the community who would read that post would be alarmed by its content,” he said, adding that the message was “posted at a time when the backdrop and environment were such that it was inevitable the words you used would affect the Jewish community.”
Take Action
CAM has launched Report It, a secure app to report antisemitic incidents anonymously and in real time. Don’t stay silent. Download it today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. See it. Report it. Stop it.
