ALBANY, N.Y. — A man fired a shotgun twice outside a Jewish temple in upstate New York on Thursday, hours before the start of Hanukkah, then said “Free Palestine” as he was taken into custody, police said. No one was injured.
The episode took place amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll.
The shots were fired outside of Temple Israel just before 2 p.m. and a 28-year-old suspect was in custody, said Albany police spokesperson Megan Craft.
“Thankfully there have been no injuries or fatalities,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a prepared statement. “I have spoken to the Rabbi at Temple Israel and assured her the State will do everything in our power to restore the sense of security her community needs.”
Hochul said she directed the state police and New York National Guard to be on high alert and to increase existing patrols of at-risk sites that were planned for Hanukkah, which begins Thursday evening at sundown.
"Any act of antisemitism is unacceptable, and undermining public safety at a synagogue on the first night of Hanukkah is even more deplorable,” she said.
A call seeking comment was made to the temple.
An FBI spokesperson said they were aware of the episode and were assisting as necessary.
“The bottom line is this: the safety of Jewish New Yorkers is nonnegotiable," Hochul said. "Every act, whether it's verbal or physical, any act of antisemitism is unacceptable and undermining the public safety at our synagogue on the first night of Hanukkah is even more deplorable.
"The prospect of violence in a place of worship is not just an attack on the building. It's an attack on the very fabric of our society, our freedom to express our faith, our collective shared sense of safety.”