Three men who allegedly shouted antisemitic insults and made violent threats against three Jewish men outside a pool hall near Northeast Philadelphia Airport on June 30 have been charged with ethnic intimidation.
The defendants — Aueb Salahedein, 22; Adam Anse, 19; and Ahmad Twam, 19 — were having a conversation with the three other men outside Blue Grass Billiards at 9490 Blue Grass Road and became angry because the other men said they were Jewish, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said Thursday.
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Salahedein allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it at the three Jewish men, who ran to their car to get away. Salahedein went after them and used his gun to crack their windshield, prosecutors said.
The defendants then fled the scene in a BMW, but the other men took down the license plate number and contacted police.
Surveillance video and witness interviews led authorities to identify the three defendants. Salahedein allegedly had purchased his gun 12 days before the incident, prosecutors said. The weapon was not recovered, but authorities said they found an empty magazine, the box for the gun and paperwork for the purchase during a search of his home.
All three defendants are charged with felony counts of ethnic intimidation, criminal conspiracy, terroristic threats and related offenses. Salahedein also is charged with weapons offenses.
Incidents of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate have risen across the U.S. since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last October, according to data from the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"We're witnessing a troubling rise in antisemitism and hate in all forms, and it's critical to confront this growing threat," Andrew Goretsky, regional director of the ADL's Philadelphia office, said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. "When someone is targeted because of their identity, whether they are Jewish or Muslim, Black, Asian, Latino, LGBTQ or from any identity background, it is not just wrong, it is an attack on our shared humanity."
On Wednesday, Philadelphia police said the historic Congregation Mikveh Israel synagogue in Old City was targeted in three different incidents Tuesday. One suspect was caught on video setting a fire inside a dumpster outside the synagogue, two others attempted to break in to the building, and a monument outside was vandalized later that night, police said.
Goretsky said the charges in the case in Northeast Philadelphia show the importance of reporting incidents involving bias.
"Far too often, ethnic intimidation and bias incidents go unreported, making it harder to address these dangerous trends," he said.