FBI: Suspect Targeted Mississippi’s Largest Synagogue Over Its ‘Jewish Ties’
Pittman referred to Beth Israel as the “synagogue of Satan.” … “One particular podcaster has used that term repeatedly in recent months to refer to Jews.”
An arsonist set fire to the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, in the predawn hours on Saturday, causing extensive damage.
Local media outlet Mississippi Today reported:
The Jackson Fire Department, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested a suspect Saturday night in the latest blaze after the fire department ruled it arson, according to chief fire investigator Charles Felton. Investigators did not immediately release the name of the suspect or the charges the person could face.
The suspect’s identity was released on Monday. Stephen Spencer Pittman allegedly confessed to starting the fire, telling authorities he targeted the building because of its “Jewish ties,” according to the criminal complaint. It goes on to say that, during an interview with authorities on Saturday, Pittman referred to Beth Israel as the “synagogue of Satan.”
Update: the Mississippi man responsible for setting Beth Israel Congregation on fire this past Shabbat has been identified as Stephen Spencer Pittman.
Pittman confessed to setting the fire “due to the building’s Jewish ties” & referred to the Shul as a “synagogue of Satan”,… pic.twitter.com/LVmnOJdySi
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 12, 2026
The term was familiar to the X user below, who noted that “one particular podcaster has used that term repeatedly in recent months to refer to Jews.” That would be Candace Owens.
The arsonist who confessed to trying to burn down Mississippi’s largest Synagogue told firefighters he was targeting “the synagogue of Satan”
I will note that one particular podcaster has used that term repeatedly in recent months to refer to Jews. pic.twitter.com/k1an8fiPbM
— AG (@AGHamilton29) January 12, 2026
Pittman has been charged with violating 18 USC § 844(i): arson of property used in interstate commerce.
The complaint states that on Saturday, “Pittman’s father, S.P. contacted the FBI and advised his son confessed to setting the building on fire. This confession was further corroborated by Life360 map data that S.P. had from Pittman’s phone, Pittman’s text messages to his father during the early morning of January 10, 202[6], and burns on Pittman’s body.”
The suspect in the Mississippi synagogue arson case has been identified as Stephen Spencer Pittman. He's been charged with a federal crime, violation of 18 USC § 844(i): arson of property used in interstate commerce.
According to court docs, Pittman's dad gave him up. pic.twitter.com/yCiZmexHvJ
— daniela (@daniela__127) January 12, 2026
Mississippi Today reported:
The library and administrative offices of Jackson’s only synagogue were reduced to charred ruins. Two Torahs were destroyed and five were damaged in the flames that erupted during Shabbat, the weekly Jewish day of rest, according to temple leaders. One Torah that survived the Holocaust was in a glass case and was undamaged in the fire.
The congregation president, Zach Shemper, said in a statement, “We have already had outreach from other houses of worship in the Jackson area and greatly appreciate their support in this very difficult time.”
According to the outlet, the Beth Israel Congregation is the largest synagogue in the state. The report also notes that historically, Beth Israel was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 after its pastor voiced support for civil rights.
In the past few years, arsonists have attacked synagogues throughout the U.S., “including in Pittsburgh, the San Diego area, and Colleyville, Texas.”
In a Sunday morning post on X, conservative columnist John Podhoretz wrote, “The fact this isn’t the biggest story of the morning, or the day so far, should tell you just how normalized anti-Semitic action is becoming.” At the time of his post, more than 24 hours after the fire broke out, Fox News was the only major media outlet to cover the story. Since then, however, other outlets have reported on it.
MIssissippi's largest synagogue destroyed in an arson attack on the Sabbath. The fact this isn't the biggest story of the morning, or the day so far, should tell you just how normalized anti-Semitic action is becoming.https://t.co/NcDLqTpWD6
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) January 11, 2026
While some agreed with Podhoretz’s post, many of the responses were decidedly unsympathetic. One X commenter posted a meme that read, “Jews are famous for producing antisemitic material, hoping Muslims will be blamed for it.”
More than a few said it sounded like insurance fraud. One commenter wrote: “Would be just unbelievable to find out it was being investigated for insurance fraud here in a few more months. Keep that same energy rabbi!” Another noted, “Well wait till it’s found to have been self inflicted.”
Others pointed out that many stories are underreported, such as the “appalling death toll in Sudan and Congo.” True.
Some readers, however, appeared to get it. One man commented, “If it were a black church or mosque, or LGBTQ center, we all know it would be nonstop 24/7 wall-to-wall coverage.”
And finally, what may be the most accurate media criticism of all came from a commenter who wrote: “The intolerance towards Jews is bubbling up to the surface now. It will only get worse for Jews living in the diaspora. There is only one place that is safe and assured for Jews today and in the long run. And you know it! [emoji of Israeli flag].”
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Burning down someone else’s place of worship is beyond evil. This goofy MF should get the maximum sentence.
Burning Cristian churches is common wherever Muslims reside.
That is a particularly inappropriate “whataboutism” right now.
How so? Intolerance of Jews and Christians is a feature of Progressivism, Islam, and whatever bizarre ideology has taken hold of people like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson.
An actual white supremacist. Surprised this isn’t louder in the press.
If he’s a Candace Owens acolyte then he’s not a white supremacist. According to her, Jews are White.
I’ll look in the mirror and I am being looked at back by a man that looks like a Viking. So yes, at least some Jews are white.
“White”, as in “White supremacist”, is a social status, not a color. Jews aren’t included, except according to Black supremacists. There was a time when Southern Europeans weren’t included. Irish Protestants were always White, but Irish Catholics were borderline, White enough for some but not for others.
It all has to do with whether or not they are “outsider” enough to blame them for all your ills.
Read Thomas Sowell’s Black Rednecks & White Liberals for some interesting discussion, including the idea that the Chinese fill that role in Asia.
“We found one!!!”
It’s not in the press because Jews are the tribe on the outside right now. You’re allowed to scapegoat them, per the Progressive prophets.
“Suspect Targeted Synagogue over Jewish Ties”
Sounds like the suspect did a lot of research.
I too have been appalled at neckwear featuring the Star of David or the Jewish flag, even when it’s tied in a four-in-hand knot. Unforgiveable arrogance, these Jewish ties.
Oh, dear. You beat me to it. Scroll down…
Wait…
Synagogues are connected to Judaism???
(Johnny Carson voice) I. Did. Not. Know. That.
😳😳😳😳
What’s next? Are you going to tell me that Islam isn’t really the religion of peace.
“Jewish ties?”
As opposed to the non-Jewish synagogues?
Exactly I’d say he’s a dumb racist but then I’d just be repeating myself.
Um, that isn’t a quote from the arsonist, it’s from the FBI.
There are non-Jewish “synagogues”.
Seeing what passes for Judaism in some synagogues it’s a legitimate question.
Yes, I didn’t want to go there, since this appears to have been such a synagogue. But it was Jewish enough for the arsonist.
Listener of Candace Owens? Would not be surprised.
“Candace Owens Posts Kanye West’s Notorious ‘Death Con 3 on Jewish People’ Tweet, Calls It a ‘Vibe’”
https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/01/08/candace-owens-posts-kanye-wests-notorious-death-con-3-jewish-people-tweet-calls-it-vibe/
From the article: “The apparent cause of the post was Owens’ escalating feud with Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, a conservative media company for which she used to work until she was fired last year.
Since then, Owens has intensified her rhetoric against Jews and Israel, even admitting in November that she has become “obsessed” with Jews.”
Unfortunately this is just zionist propaganda. Newsflash to this commenter: Synagogue arson happens in Israel too. The fact is that Israel is even less safe for Jews than the USA, and there’s no prospect of that changing. At least in the USA we still have the first and second amendments, democratic government, and the rule of law. Israelis don’t.
Israel doesn’t have rule of law or a democratic form of government? I bet Israel would be surprised to learn that.
That’s right, Israel has neither the rule of law nor democratic government. Elections are held regularly, but the “government” that emerges from those elections, with the people’s sanction, has no power.
The country is governed by the career DOJ and by the self-appointing judiciary, which recognize no limits to their own power. They have veto power over all government decisions, and dictate to the government what it must do, including whom it may or may not appoint to various positions. They feel free to ignore any orders from the ministers supposedly in charge of them.
The courts declare that “everything is justiciable”, and that they may act sua sponte, without the need for a plaintiff with standing. And that although the country has no constitution they will treat “basic laws” as if they were a constitution, except that they can strike those down too.
So no, there is no rule or law or democracy.
And the Israeli progressives love it that way and will almost fight to the death to keep it that way.
Go to Israel, break the law, then get back to me.
Huh? What do you mean by that?
Ask any member of the current cabinet. They’ll all agree that there is neither rule of law nor democracy.
Jewish ties. I had a Jewish tie decades ago. Hart Schafner and Marx it was…
The most disturbing thing in this article to me are some of the responses to Podhoretz:
– Done by Jews so Muslims blamed
– Insurance fraud by Jews
– Lots of underreported stories out there
I don’t recall any staged antisemitic activities by Jews. Does anyone?
Likewise I don’t recall any Jewish house of worship burned down for insurance money,
Other underreported stories – so what
More troubling signs of antisemitism in the US.
Yes, it’s happened. Not in this case, but it’s a real thing. That’s why one should never leap to judgment about the motive for a crime until there’s clear evidence, which usually emerges with the criminal’s arrest.
I can’t recall that ever happening to any house of worship, but “Jewish lightning” is not entirely an antisemitic canard. It was enough of a thing that it was the subject of numerous well-known jokes in the Borscht Belt era.
“Once I had a candy store….”
“So tell me, how does one make a hurricane?”
I seem to recall a few arson for insurance instances in the last spate of ‘church burnings’ …a decade ago?
More like 30 years ago, and the news industry tried very hard to convince us that it was only black churches that were burning, and therefore that it was some sort of racist thing, some white supremacist gang that was going around setting all these fires.
Many of those fires turned out to have been set by black people, but I don’t recall any that were specifically for the insurance.
‘According to WLBT 3, a Jackson-based TV news station, after a federal judge asked Pittman during the hearing if he understood his rights, Pittman responded, “Yes sir. Jesus Christ is Lord.”’
Sounds like a Groyper.
https://forward.com/news/796632/stephen-spencer-pittman-mississippi-synagogue-fire-suspect/
This is a horrible crime.
Where are the statistics on the numbers of churches, mosques and synagogues victimized by arson in North America? Seems very relevant.
Also, for honest reporting, perhaps make sure to acknowledge what Candace Owens’ actual position which is (i) violence and arson etc are to be condemned, (ii) the Jewish people in Israel are oppressed by their government and the Zionists and war profiteers who prop that government, and (iii) quoting the New Testament (Revelation and John) is not antisemitism.
And her other positions, which seem to be blaming the Jooos for running America, and such.
It’s probably already been said but 2 thing immediately stood out to me –
1. What does this burned out light bulb THINK a synagogue is going to be tied to? Hindu? DUH!
2. The argument of the “synagogue of Satan” – Yes, it was Jewish leaders that roused the mob of Jews to demand Jesus’s death, BUT 2 things here. JESUS was Jewish-born and raised, and the fact that ALL have sinned, and Christ had to die for the sins of ALL of us, so this guy himself put Christ on the Cross…
It was the Jews who immediately wanted Him dead. But it was the Gentiles who executed him. So all of sinful humanity gets the blame, AND the benefit.
And, yeah, every single one of us nailed him to that cross.
Again, the “Jewish ties” quote is NOT from the arsonist. The arsonist did NOT say that. I don’t understand how anyone could read the article and come away with that impression.
It’s the FBI that said his reason for setting the fire was because of the target’s Jewish ties, as opposed to the many other reasons a person might set fire to a synagogue, or any other building.
(Houses of worship are disproportionately subject to arson and vandalism, for several reasons that have nothing to do with any animus for the specific religion that owns any given target.)
black nationalists is more than acceptable in the usa and taught as such..a pride
whites have been ingrained with the racist tag while others havent
then they came up with the phony definition/ reasoning on how blcks cant be racist
the schools teach the msm empowers it and whts sit on the sidelines gettn banged over it
enjoy your misery
In my opinion, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson are both anti-semitic troublemakers. In the case of Candace, she became one, I believe, after she was fired by a Jewish boss. Both those people incite violence, and to tell you the truth, I am tired of their lies. We have a problem in America because of people like those two, and also Nick Fuentes. They cause hate and violence, both of which we need less of in the world !