A federal grand jury indicted a Las Vegas man for making antisemitic threats against U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and her family, along with the family of another U.S. senator. Rosen is Jewish and has maintained a vocal pro-Israel stance, including support for U.S. aid to Israel. John Miller, 43, is charged with one count of threatening a federal official and two counts of influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a federal official by threatening a family member, the Associated Press reports. Miller allegedly made several threatening calls and voicemails containing antisemitic slurs to Rosen last month, some of them referring to the Israel-Hamas war and the Holocaust. Miller is also accused of threatening the family of another unnamed U.S. senator.
Miller went to a federal courthouse in Las Vegas on the morning of Oct. 18 to see Rosen but was turned away after refusing to provide identification. He became agitated and began shouting threats against Israelis outside the courthouse. He was arrested a week later. “Threats against public officials should be taken seriously,” a Rosen spokesperson said. Miller’s trial is scheduled for January. He is in custody. The indictment comes as many have sounded the alarm about rising antisemitism and Islamophobia across the U.S. and worldwide amid the Hamas-Israel war. The Anti-Defamation League has recorded a nearly quadruple spike in antisemitic incidents since the onset of the war. The Biden administration has called on universities to fight an “alarming rise” in antisemitism and Islamophobia.