Man charged after Mississippi synagogue fire

Federal arson charges were filed on Monday against a man accused of setting fire to the only synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, and a building that also houses a Jewish education institute serving communities across the U.S. Deep South.

The fire broke out in the early hours of January 10 and caused major damage to the shared building used by the Beth Israel Congregation and the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. The facility has been closed indefinitely since the blaze.

Authorities detained Stephen Spencer Pittman later that evening after receiving a tip from his father. According to an FBI affidavit, Pittman admitted to starting the fire in a series of text messages sent to family members.

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During questioning, Pittman confessed to setting fire to Beth Israel “due to the building’s Jewish ties,” the FBI said, quoting him as calling it the “synagogue of Satan.” Despite this, he was not charged with a federal hate crime.

Instead, the criminal complaint charged Pittman with federal arson for intentionally burning a building used in interstate commerce. Investigators said the institute operating inside the building provides rabbinical services and Jewish education programs to congregations in more than a dozen Southern states, in addition to Mississippi.

It was not immediately known whether Pittman has legal representation.

Beth Israel Congregation was founded in 1860, the same year Abraham Lincoln was elected president, making it Mississippi’s oldest Jewish congregation. It has long been the only synagogue in the state capital, according to its website.

The building damaged in the fire had served as the congregation’s synagogue since 1967. That same year, it was targeted in a Ku Klux Klan bombing while also serving as the home of the congregation’s rabbi, who was active in the Civil Rights movement.

Federal court documents also cite surveillance footage showing a hooded person moving through the building and appearing to pour a flammable liquid from a large container.

Investigators said Pittman told them he stopped at a gas station on the way to the synagogue to buy gasoline, which he then used to start the fire. The FBI said a mobile phone linked to the suspect and a torch lighter believed to have been used to ignite the blaze were recovered at the scene.

Authorities added that burns found on the suspect’s body further supported their findings.

The arson attack comes amid a sharp rise in reported antisemitic incidents across the United States in recent years.

(BBC News)