(JTA) — A virtual prayer session that included several Dallas-area synagogues was “Zoom bombed” by intruders shouting hate messages.
The incident took place on July 30, the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av.
The intruders, faces covered, shouted and typed comments such as “Kill All Jews, Bomb Israel” and “Hail (sic) Hitler,” Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky of Congregation Shaare Tefilla told the Dallas News. One continued to make the Nazi salute.
“We’re not commemorating something — we are actually living through it. This is what Tisha B’Av looks like in the year 2020,” he told the newspaper.
Some 100 people, ranging in age from preteens to 80 years old, were on the Zoom call at the time. After about five minutes the rabbis terminated the call and started a new one. One of the rabbis called the FBI, according to the report.
An FBI spokesman would not tell the newspaper whether the incident was being treated as a hate crime, but said such incidents are treated seriously.
Fashion blogger Elizabeth Savetsky posted a few seconds of the Zoom-bombed call on Instagram and it has had more than 62,000 views.
“Today, on Tisha B’av, the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, we are blatantly reminded of the growing movements of radicals who want to take our lives,” she wrote in the post. “The threat is no longer looming in the distance. It is upon our very community. We will not stand down, we will not tolerate the overwhelming hate! Hashem, hear our cry!! We need Your protection!”
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