North Carolina man arrested, charged with threatening Georgia rabbi

Similar postcard received at Ali’s Cookies in Atlanta in February

A 31-year-old man has been charged with threatening a rabbi in Georgia and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

Ariel E. Collazo Ramos, who was arrested on May 2 at his High Point, N.C. home, allegedly mailed an antisemitic postcard to Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar, of Temple Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Macon, Ga.

Bahar was previously rabbi at Temple B’nai Sholom in Huntsville.

On Feb. 1, the rabbi received a “threatening postcard” at her home through the U.S. Postal Service, according to the indictment. The handwritten postcard, allegedly by Collazo Ramos, stated: “Is there a child rape, torture and murder tunnel under your house? We have the Zyklon B. Use Code ‘GasTheJews’ for 10% off!”

“The reverse side of the postcard displayed a hand-drawn image depicting a purported Jewish male wearing a rat costume and the words ‘Jews are rats,’” the U.S. Justice Department added.

The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury on April 9 and was unsealed on May 2.

Bahar told WMAZ that her congregation had five cases of antisemitic threats in the second half of 2023, including a swatting incident. She said “Is it a crime to have bad thoughts? No. Is it a crime to be racist? No. Is it a crime to act on it? Yeah.”

WMAZ reported that Ramos also sent that postcard to Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of Georgia’s legislature, and it arrived the day before Georgia’s bill defining antisemitism was signed into law. Panitch was heavily involved in its passage.

He also sent the card to Jewish groups elsewhere in Georgia and in two other states. On Feb. 24, a similar postcard was delivered to Ali’s Cookies in Atlanta, a bakery owned by Israelis.

The postcards are sold by Patriot Candle, which sends the postcards anonymously on behalf of customers, with customized messages available. The company is located in High Point, and according to the Anti-Defamation League, is affiliated with the antisemitic Goyim Defense League.

The FBI is investigating.

In August 2023, a Olathe, Kan. farmers market kicked out a neo-Nazi pepper salesman, who offered customers a deal if they used his “GasThejews” discount code.

With SJL and JNS reports.