Reflection on the Jersey City Attack

Victims of the Jersey City Attack

It was not until about two years ago that I first heard of the Black Hebrew Israelites.  After watching a few videos and analyzing their theological beliefs, I simply wrote them off as a small group of crazy people.  I viewed them in the same way that I viewed the Westboro Baptist Church: a fringe group that views hatred of virtually anybody who doesn't agree with their beliefs, but are mostly loud and obnoxious, not overly dangerous.  However, the recent massacre in Jersey City that left one police officer and three civilians dead had led me to rethink this notion.  

The attack was launched on the JC Kosher Market, killing the one of the co-owners, Mindy Ferencz.  Two of her customers were also killed.  One was Moshe Deutsch, the son of a prominent Jewish leader in New York, and the other was an immigrant from Ecuador by the name of Miguel Rodriguez.  Police detective Seal was also killed, leaving behind a widowed wife and five children.  An investigation revealed that the assailants deliberately attacked this site due to anti-Semitic motives.  

The two killers, David Anderson and Francine Graham are both reported to have been members of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, or are at the very least, sympathetic to the messages preached by the movement.  In a memorandum left by the killers revealed this sinister message: "I do this because my creator makes me do this and I hate who he hates."  In the United States, the Black Hebrew Israelite movement currently has 25,000-40,000 members.  The Black Hebrew Israelite claim to be physical descendants of the true Israelite people and that modern day Jews are frauds who stole the heritage of the true Jews.  Thus they believe they are a victim of identify theft, leading to the feeling of resenting and harassment of modern day Jews.  This is a feeling that is universally held by all sects of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.  

The following teachings are not universally held by the One West Camp of the Black Hebrew Israelites and trace their school of thought back to the sects founding in 1969.  This sect also teach that God hates certain people based on their ethnic background.  The killer David Anderson made this view very explicit in the notes he left behind.  This sect also teaches the doctrine of reincarnation, that after you die, you return in another body.  Traditional Judaism and Christianity reject reincarnation and is explicitly rejected in the New Testament.  Some leaders of the Black Hebrew Israelites claim to be the reincarnation of Biblical Prophets or the Apostles of Christ.  David Anderson believed that upon his death, he would one day be reincarnated.  Ethnic Universalism is also taught in the One West doctrine, which is that you must be a Hebrew Israelite to achieve salvation, and they will be granted salvation regardless of what they do or don't do in this life.  So based on this teaching, it didn't matter of David Anderson committed crimes such as murder, he was already guaranteed a place in the Kingdom of God.  This goes against what the Bible taught which never said you were saved simply for being Israelites, especially if they commit murder.  The final teaching is that the Hebrew Israelites teach vengeance & slaughter.  The weapons found on the site show that these killers planned to kill many more people than they did.  The One West Camp taught that the Black Hebrew Israelites, led by the Black Jesus and Black Angels would come and slaughter their enemies.  Their enemies are based on their ethnicity and nothing else.  Though the One West Camp teaches not to enact in this slaughter until the end times, but they should not be surprised that some of their adherents are either tired of waiting for the End Times, or they think that the End Times is approaching.  The One West Camp not only teaches that many people are to be targeted, but that the current "Modern Jews" that the Israelites so disdain, are the most hated of all by the "Creator."  It should therefore be seen as no surprise that these killers deliberately targeted Jews.  


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