Four more charged in US intimidation case — Jerusalem Post
US federal prosecutors have charged four more people in a case involving an alleged campaign of threats, vandalism and intimidation targeting the Jewish Federation of Detroit, University of Michigan leadership, university police employees and local businesses. This was reported by The Jerusalem Post.
A total of 12 defendants
The updated indictment brought the total number of defendants in the federal investigation to 12. Eight people were charged earlier in June. The new defendants are 23-year-old Henry David McKeen-Shapiro, 25-year-old Aaron Hunter VonBargen, 23-year-old Joseph Mark Fisher and 23-year-old Shrishti Tarana Sharma.
According to law enforcement, two of the new defendants were detained, while two others remained at large. The US Department of Justice stressed that the charges are allegations by the prosecution and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Alleged pressure campaign
Investigators claim that the campaign of harassment and property damage intensified after October 2023. According to their version, its goal was to pressure the University of Michigan to divest its endowment investments from companies that campaign participants considered linked to Israel.
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Prosecutors said that documented incidents included broken windows, glass jars containing harmful chemicals thrown at family homes, mock bloodied bodies placed in the yard of a university board member, and anti-Israel graffiti on the private home of then-university president Santa Ono.
Investigators also said that red handprints and inverted red triangles were left at the homes and workplaces of the victims — symbols that, according to them, are associated with Hamas. The attacks were allegedly filmed for distribution on social media along with warnings of further threats.
Positions of the parties
Representatives of the Jewish Federation of Detroit thanked federal prosecutors, the FBI and law enforcement agencies for the investigation, saying that hatred, intimidation and antisemitism must not go unanswered. At the same time, legal representatives and defenders of pro-Palestinian activists criticized the federal prosecution in comments to local media, believing that the authorities are criminalizing student protest and political expression regarding the conflict in Gaza.
