21-year-old who left a threatening voicemail with the World Jewish Congress and a local synagogue sentenced to six months in prison.
A Florida man was sentenced to six months in prison on Thursday for leaving a threatening voicemail with the World Jewish Congress in New York City two weeks after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, the Justice Department announced, according to ABC News.
“If I had a chance I would kill every single one of you Israelis,” the man, Deep Patel, said in a voicemail left with the World Jewish Congress on October 21. “Cause mass genocide of every single Israeli.”
Minutes after that call, the 21-year-old Patel also called a synagogue in Temple Terrace, Florida, and left another voicemail with hate-fueled, antisemitic comments.
When he was interviewed by federal agents about the calls, Patel “explained that he had called Jewish centers to express his family’s anger with Israel for the genocide of the Palestinian people, and that although he did not intend to scare or threaten anyone, he wanted to use the harshest language possible to convey his anger,” prosecutors said.
While Patel accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty soon after his arrest, prosecutors sought one year in prison for him, citing the need for deterrence amid a broader uptick in threats in the wake of October 7.
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