Mississippi Synagogue Arson

LOS ANGELES (January 11, 2026) — The arson attack on Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi, was not just an attack on a building. It was an assault on the heart of Jewish life in the South, and on a legacy shaped in partnership with the Black community through the long, unfinished struggle for civil rights.

The synagogue has long represented bonds of solidarity forged in the struggle for human dignity. This is not the first time Beth Israel has been targeted by hate. In 1967, the KKK bombed both the synagogue and the home of Rabbi Perry E. Nussbaum for standing up for civil rights and human dignity. This attack is not only an act of antisemitism, it is an assault on that legacy, testing whether the lessons of that era still hold.

Jewish leaders and institutions did not stand by on the sidelines during the Civil Rights Movement. They marched, they spoke out, they stood with Black Americans against segregation, racism, and terror. That alliance was not incidental; it was forged in fire, and its memory is a warning not to let history slip from view.

About the Simon Wiesenthal Center

The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a global Jewish human rights organization that combats antisemitism, defends the State of Israel, and uses the lessons of the Holocaust to teach tolerance and combat hate. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO). Headquartered in Los Angeles, the SWC operates in key centers of Jewish life including New York, Chicago, Florida, Toronto, Jerusalem, Vienna and Buenos Aires. To learn more, visit www.wiesenthal.org.