US News

ACTS VS. BLDGS. ‘HATE CRIMES’

You can commit a hate crime against a building, a state appeals court ruled yesterday.

Upholding the conviction of a Muslim man, Mazin Assi, for trying to firebomb the Adath Israel synagogue in The Bronx in 2000, the state Appellate Division, found that “his targeting of the synagogue was directed toward an entire community.”

When arrested, Assi told police he’d wanted to express his outrage about “the f – – -ing rich Jews in Riverdale” who send money to Israel for “killing people.”

For the hate crime and other offenses, Assi was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison.