Son of prominent rabbi arrested after alleged altercation with protesters outside Israeli Embassy

• Published date: 19 April 2024
• Author: RON KAMPEAS/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Two witnesses quoted in a Secret Service police arrest sheet accused Ezra Weinblatt, a real estate agent and the son of Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, who leads Congregation B'nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, of pushing them on April 16 at around noon and breaking their sound equipment

Weinblatt told Secret Service police "what they [the protesters] were doing is illegal and annoying," according to the arrest sheet, which was obtained by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group that has advocated against Israel during its war with Hamas.

Confirming the arrest

The Secret Service confirmed the arrest to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

"On April 16th at approximately 11:55 a.m. US Secret Service Uniformed Division officers arrested an individual at 3514 International Drive, NW after an altercation," a spokesman said. "The individual was arrested for 'destruction of property' and 'simple assault'."

An Instagram video linked in the CAIR release showed a man throwing sound equipment outside the embassy on Tuesday around noon. A number of women's voices shout that "Zionism is a sin" and "This man assaulted her" and "What is wrong with you!" while a recording of an air raid siren is heard on repeat. The man heads back to his car but is arrested by Secret Service police. He goes peacefully.

"Law enforcement should consider hate crime charges against Mr. Weinblatt," CAIR's national office wrote on X.

Ezra Weinblatt is on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. His Twitter feed is mostly retweets of pro-Israel commentary on the Israel-Hamas war.

In November, he posted an op-ed at the Times of Israel in the form of an open letter to Save the Children, appealing to it not to quote information dispensed by Hamas and affiliated groups. In the op-ed he describes what he...