Several cars were set on fire and “Death to the IDF” graffiti was spray-painted in a residential neighborhood in the St. Louis area overnight Tuesday, according to local reports and the head of the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force.
Leo Terrell said the “horrific antisemitic attack,” in which three cars were torched, targeted an American citizen who served in the Israel Defense Forces and who had returned to his family home in Clayton.
“Soon after, he and his family were targeted,” Terrell wrote in a post on X.
Local Jewish organizations linked the attack to what they described as unbridled rhetoric against Jews and Israel.
There were no reports of injuries. Local media reported that a suspect had been taken into custody.
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Antisemitic attacks have skyrocketed in the US and around the world since Hamas led a devastating invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, that triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, where the IDF is battling against the Palestinian terror group and its allies.
The Jewish Federations of St. Louis said in a statement, “We condemn in the strongest terms the attack on members of our community last night. This is more than vandalism; it is a hateful act of intimidation and only the latest example of what happens when antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric are normalized.”
KMOV 4 News said that, in addition to “Death to the IDF,” further graffiti was spray-painted on Westmoreland Avenue, which it described as “a direct attack on an individual.” The outlet added that it blurred that “part of the threatening message because it’s targeted at a specific individual.”
Terrell said the graffiti “accused him of being a murderer.”
“I am outraged. Antisemitic violence has no place in America, not in St. Louis and not anywhere. We will pursue every avenue to bring the perpetrators to justice. If you commit antisemitic hate crimes, you will be caught. And you will be held accountable,” said Terrell, adding he contacted the FBI about the case.
The local fire department attended to the torched vehicles, and police were investigating the incident as a hate crime, KMOV 4 News said.
“When you hear somebody say globalize the intifada, this is what it looks like,” Jordan Kadosh, of the Anti-Defamation League, said in the report. “It looks like burned-out cars on suburban streets on America. This is not confined. When somebody says they want to take this fight to Jews around the world, they mean everywhere.”
Danny Cohn, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, said in a statement to KMOV 4 News: “This is more than vandalism; it is a hateful act of intimidation and the consequence of the dangerous rise in antisemitism.”
“When hateful words targeting Jews or Israel go unchecked, whether on social media or at public events, they embolden individuals to act,” he continued. “What started as rhetoric is increasingly escalating into threats and violence against our Jewish community.”
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell leaves the stage after speaking alongside US President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 20, 2025 .(WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
“We urge civic and community leaders to join us in speaking out clearly and forcefully against antisemitism in all its forms,” Cohn said.
He said that the Jewish Federation’s Community Security Team was working with law enforcement to probe the incident.
Clayton Mayor Bridget McAndrew called the crime “an offensive and violent act of arson.”
She said, “This incident is being investigated as a hate crime.”
“We will not tolerate harassment, intimidation, or violence based on someone’s nationality, race, religion, or ideology,” McAndrew said.
The attack came as the FBI published figures that showed hate crimes against Jewish people in the US hit a record high in 2024 of 1,938 incidents.
Crimes against Jews accounted for 16 percent of all reported hate crimes in the United States in 2024, and nearly 70% of religion-based hate crimes, according to FBI data.
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