An American who served with the Israel Defense Forces had his car torched and had “Death to the IDF” scrawled outside his Missouri home in a sick antisemitic attack this week, officials said.
Hateful vandals targeted the IDF veteran’s home in St. Louis early Tuesday, according to the head of the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force.
Multiple cars were set on fire outside the home.
“Death to the IDF” was scrawled on the street outside the victim’s home. First Alert 4
Burned car at the hate crime scene. First Alert 4Graffiti scrawled on the road also accused the victim of being a murderer.
The targeted attack unfolded soon after the IDF solder returned to his family home, task force head Leo Terrell wrote on X.
“I reviewed graphic footage of vehicles belonging to the family and their friends. The vehicles were set on fire and destroyed. Hateful graffiti outside the family’s home accused him of being a murderer and called for death to the IDF,” he said.
Multiple cars were set on fire outside the home. First Alert 4
Hateful vandals targeted the IDF veteran’s home in St. Louis early Tuesday, according to the head of the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force. First Alert 4“I am outraged. Antisemitic violence has no place in America, not in St. Louis and not anywhere. We will pursue every avenue to bring the perpetrators to justice. If you commit antisemitic hate crimes, you will be caught. And you will be held accountable.”
Local cops said they were first alerted to the attack following reports of a suspicious fire in the city’s Clayton neighborhood just after 3 a.m.
“Responding officers discovered that three vehicles had been damaged by a fire, believed to have been intentionally set. Additionally, officers located antisemitic graffiti written in the roadway,” Clayton Police said in a statement.
“We believe the victim in this incident, a Clayton resident, was specifically targeted.”
The veteran’s car was also torched in the attack. First Alert 4
The targeted attack unfolded soon after the IDF solder returned to his family home, task force head Leo Terrell wrote on X. First Alert 4It wasn’t immediately clear how long the victim had served with the Israeli military or exactly when he returned to the US.
Meanwhile, cops said they were probing the incident as a hate crime.
The FBI and St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit are also helping with the investigation.
No arrests have yet been made.
Police investigate a fire-damaged car and antisemitic graffiti. First Alert 4Still, a collective of local Jewish organizations were quick to blast out a joint statement condemning the attack.
“This is more than vandalism; it is a hateful act of intimidation and only the latest example of what happens when antisemitic an anti-Israel rhetoric are normalized,” they said.
The groups vowed to protect the city’s synagogues, Jewish schools and community spaces in the wake of the attack.
“We are a resilient community, and we will not be deterred in our quest to uproot antisemitism and hatred, alone and with our partners. Antisemitism is a social ill that must be rejected by all of society,” the statement said.
