Neo-Nazi pleads guilty to vandalizing Wisconsin synagogue

Racine, Wisconsin. Image by Google Maps

By Marcy Oster July 20, 2020

(JTA) — A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty to federal charges that he vandalized a synagogue as part of his involvement in a white supremacist and neo-Nazi group.

Yousef Barasneh was arrested in January as part of a nationwide investigation into The Base, which planned to carry out coordinated vandalism of synagogues across the country in an effort the hate group called Operation Kristallnacht, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Six other men involved in the group were arrested at the same time.

Barasneh spray-painted a swastika and other Nazi imagery, as well as the word “Jude,” German for Jew, on the building of the Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in Racine in September.

According to the plea agreement approved Friday, Barasneh admitted that he had online conversations with other members of The Base about “acts of violence against Jewish Americans and non-white Americans, Base military training camps, and ways to make improvised explosive devices,” the Journal-Sentinel reported

Barasneh’s father immigrated to the United States from Amman, Jordan. His mother was born in Wisconsin, and the family lives in Oak Creek, located about 10 miles from Milwaukee, Ynet reported at the time of his arrest in January, citing the father’s Facebook page.

He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The post Wisconsin man pleads guilty to vandalizing Racine synagogue as part of involvement in hate group appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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