Neo-Nazi network member orchestrated Swastika graffiti operation

Leader of network planned and organized Swastika graffiti campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin throughout September.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Gravestones at the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, France, vandalized with Nazi graffiti, February 19. (photo credit: CONSISTOIRE OF THE LOWER RHINE)
Gravestones at the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, France, vandalized with Nazi graffiti, February 19.
(photo credit: CONSISTOIRE OF THE LOWER RHINE)
 A prominent member of a neo-Nazi organization was reported to have directed other members to vandalize synagogues in Michigan and Wisconsin in September, according to a criminal complaint that was recently unsealed. 
Richard Tobin, 18, from Brooklawn, New Jersey, admitted his role in organizing and directing members of the network’s “Great Lakes Cell” via online forums and encrypted messaging applications to vandalize the synagogues. 
The members were told to paint the synagogues with neo-Nazi symbols and slogans as part of “Operation Kristallnacht,” referring to the infamous 1938 organized pogrom against Jews in Germany. 
Some of the targets included Temple Jacob in Hancock, Michigan, which was defaced on September 21, followed by the Beth Israel Sinai Synagogue, located in Racine, Wisconsin. 
The complaint also notes that the network, called the “The Base,” pushed for “the recruitment of prospective members, the creation of a white ethno-state, acts of violence against minorities (including African-Americans and Jewish Americans)… military training camps, and ways to make improvised explosive devices (IED).”
The complaint comes amid fears of a rising number of antisemitic attacks against Jewish community institutions, many of which have become violent in recent years.