Antisemitic postcard sent to Macon rabbi came from a North Carolina man, feds say.
A North Carolina man was arrested Thursday for allegedly mailing a postcard with antisemitic messages to a Macon rabbi, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Georgia.
Ariel Collazo Ramos of High Point, North Carolina, was indicted last month by a grand jury on a charge of sending threatening communications to Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar of Temple Beth Israel in Macon. The Department of Justice says Bahar received the postcard Feb. 1. Ramos’ indictment was sealed until his arrest.
He will make his first court appearance in North Carolina, but his first court date hasn’t been set yet.
The postcard he mailed to the rabbi referenced Zyklon B, a toxic gas made from hydrogen cyanide that was used during the Holocaust to kill close to 6 million Jewish people, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. On the back side of the postcard, Ramos allegedly drew a purported Jewish man in a rat costume with the words “Jews are rats.”
The indictment alleges Ramos ran a business from his home that sold products depicting white nationalist themes.
If Ramos is convicted of mailing threatening communications, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI was still investigating this case Thursday.
Bahar reportedly spoke to Georgia lawmakers in support of the new state law that defines antisemitism and will help prosecutors identify hate crimes and discrimination nationwide, according to an article from ABC News.
