Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed she was the subject of an antisemitic threat

• Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed she was the target of a hate crime 
• Jack Eugene Carpenter III, threatened to harm any Jewish officials in state government 
• Activists say that antisemitism has been on the rise in Michigan

The FBI confirmed that Attorney General Dana Nessel was targeted last month by a “heavily armed” man who threatened to injure Jewish representatives, she said in a tweet Thursday morning. 

“It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes & domestic Terrorim Unit takes plots to murder elected officials,” she added to the tweet.   

The FBI arrested Jack Eugene Carpenter III. 

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Carpenter III, 41, of Tipton said online he had plans to “carry out the punishment of death” on Jewish government officials – a crime punishable by a five-year felony under federal law. He was accused of transmitting an interstate threat.

According to a criminal complaint against Carpenter he allegedly wrote on his twitter account, any Jewish public official, “is subject to immediate punishment for their participation in an unlawful war of aggression using a biological weapon against me." 

The complaint confirmed that Carpenter owns three handguns, a shotgun and two rifles, but he was under investigation for allegedly stealing a pistol U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Michigan reported.  

“I was shocked but not surprised that he had targeted the Jewish members of the Michigan government,” said Linda Levy, state policy advocate for the National Council of Jewish Women.

“When a group is targeted like … Jewish legislators, it shows the ignorance of what is happening in our Government,” she added. “People should voice their concerns to politicians on the ballot instead of  threatening and  intimidating them with violence.”

In a separate incident in December a man was charged with two counts of ethnic intimidation for an antisemitic attack in Bloomfield Township. Hassan Yehia Chokr, 35, of Dearborn, was accused of making threats to families and security personnel at a preschool and a synagogue. 

Chokr also faces federal charges for the possession of a firearm as a felon  and lying on a federal firearms form to buy a shotgun, rifle and a semiautomatic weapon. He acquired these weapons at a gun store in Dearborn after he drove to the Oakland County synagogue.

“These latest incidents are not isolated, “ said Carolyn Normandin, regional director for the Detroit/Michigan office of the Anti-Defamation League. “Antisemitism has been on the rise along with other forms of hatred for the last several years.” 

In a separate incident, several men were convicted last year related to a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.