Firebomb Thrown at New Jersey Temple

By Matis Glenn

An explosive device was thrown in the middle of the night at a temple in Bloomfield, New Jersey, according to police.

At around 3:19 a.m., Sunday morning, an unknown individual wearing a ski mask ignited and threw a Molotov cocktail – a crude, homemade explosive device – at the front door of Temple Ner Tamid.

Police say that the device failed to detonate, but the bottle broke. No injuries or property damage occurred.

Surveillance footage shows the assailant’s attempted bombing, followed by his fleeing the scene through the congregation’s driveway.

The attempted arson comes a day after two terror attacks in Israel, one in a Neve Yaakov shul and another outside the Old City in Yerushalayim. Seven people r”l were killed in the first attack, and 10 others were injured, three of which seriously. Two people were injured in the second attack, which was carried out by a 13 year old terrorist.

Police in nearby Livingston announced on social media that they would be ramping up patrols in nearby synagogues “until more information is obtained.”

Last November, Omar Alkattoul, 18, was arrested after the FBI received credible threats that he was planning on attacking New Jersey synagogues.

According to the ADL, last year, and the year before it, broke records for the most amount of antisemitic incidents since the organization began keeping records.