Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that she’s more focused on ensuring Jewish students feel safe than on the arrest of a man charged with making antisemitic death threats against her.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by POLITICO, the accused, John Anthony Miller, left multiple profane voicemails at Rosen’s office, vowing to “finish what Hitler started” and “exterminate you.” On Oct. 18, Miller allegedly arrived at a Las Vegas courthouse but was refused entry after claiming he had an appointment to see a senator. He was refused entry prompting him to make expletive-laden threats.
With the case now in the hands of the Justice Department and law enforcement, Rosen said she has faith it will be resolved and said similar threats should be taken “really seriously.” But she sought to turn the focus to younger Jewish Americans who might be alarmed by reports of rising antisemitic rhetoric across the nation since Hamas’ initial attack on Israel.
“Whether they’re pre-K through [grade] 12 or college campuses, it’s really important that Jewish kids feel safe,” Rosen told POLITICO in an interview. “But most important, all students should be safe when they go to school. They should not feel like they’re under attack. Right now, it’s Jewish students. Tomorrow, it can be another group.”
Rosen, first elected to the Senate in 2018, is up for reelection in 2024 and participated in a bipartisan trip to Israel following the October Hamas attack, which Israel has followed with a military push into Gaza. She was formerly the president of a synagogue.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who is also Jewish, said he would be convening an interfaith groups for dialogue about what he described as an alarming rise in antisemitic activity in the U.S.
“If any group’s not safe, we’re all not safe,” Cardin told POLITICO. “You got to speak out against any of these forms of hate — give no oxygen to hate — whether it’s antisemitism or Islamophobia.”
