Mamdani Video Tied to Synagogue Brick Attack

A Florida man charged in a synagogue brick attack in Sarasota allegedly told police that a video of Mayor Zohran Mamdani calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” helped trigger his anger. The case centers on the July 29 vandalism at the Chabad House, where investigators say 30-year-old Brayton Laschinger deliberately hurled a brick through a window.

Police say Laschinger admitted he targeted the synagogue because it was a Jewish temple. In a probable cause affidavit dated July 30, Detective Frank Castro wrote that Laschinger told investigators he acted after becoming enraged by “propaganda on social media that was making him mad.” Authorities also said the only political content on his public Instagram account was Mamdani’s July 21 video aimed at Netanyahu.

In that video, Mamdani described Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and accused him of responsibility for what he called a “horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.” He also said it was clear he did not have the legal authority to carry out a campaign promise to arrest Netanyahu if he came to New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September. Laschinger later reposted the reel on his account, alongside pictures of animals and wildlife, police said.

Investigators said the Instagram repost appeared between July 23 and July 29. The affidavit says Laschinger later saw a video of Netanyahu speaking about the Armenian genocide while not acknowledging what Laschinger viewed as the suffering of Palestinians, and that moment became the final trigger for the attack. Surveillance footage showed him barefoot, with a blue towel over his head and face, throwing a brick he had picked up from a yard as he approached the synagogue around 6 a.m.