Tempe man arrested for threatening to kill a Scottsdale rabbi and ‘every other Jew’

FBI agents in Phoenix arrested a Tempe man for threatening to kill a local rabbi and “every other Jew” he could find. 

Jeffrey Mindock, 50, emailed Rabbi Andy Green, the senior rabbi at Congregation Or Tzion in north Scottsdale, demanding the faith leader use his “influence” to get criminal charges Mindock is facing in Utah dismissed. 

“We both know that you are in control,” Mindock said in an email to Green before demanding the rabbi have his “servant,” a Utah judge Mindock allegedly threatened to kill, stop pursuing charges against him. .

Mindock, using a pseudonym in his messages to Green, claimed that the “atrocities unfolding in Palestine” had made him realize that Jewish people “are to blame for everything evil in this world.” He went on to claim that “Zionist Jews” control “everything from the courts to the banks to the media,” a common antisemitic trope. The same trope fueled a shooter to attack and take hostages at a Texas synagogue in 2022, demanding the rabbi there free a convicted terrorist. 

“If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW I can find tonight at midnight on your Sabbath,” Mindock allegedly wrote.

He closed the threat with an offer to meet Green in person and provided the address to his house in Tempe. 

Green thanked the FBI, US Attorney’s Office, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the police departments of Tempe, Scottsdale and Phoenix for responding to the threat. 

“This threat reflects the same antisemitic tropes invoked for decades in the United States — the conspiracy theory of Jewish power. In this case, it led this individual to blame me for out-of-state charges against him,” Green said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror. “It’s important to stand up to antisemitism. The value of words of kindness and support for your Jewish friends cannot be understated.”

Mindock has a history of threatening behavior and antisemitism. 

In 2021, Mindock threatened the Utah judge, who was presiding over a case in which Mindock was accused of stalking and harassment. He emailed the judge and an attorney stating that he wanted to schedule a “hearing/execution date” for the judge. 

“He will hang from the gallows for this crime,” Mindock said, claiming he was being persecuted by “israelites” in an email with the subject heading “TRAITOR.” Mindock stated he had enough guns and ammunition to kill 10 SWAT teams, further stating that he knew how to make bombs. 

Mindock pleaded guilty in January in the stalking and harassment case.

After he threatened the judge, Mindock claimed to police that he was a “sovereign citizen” and added that domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski was his hero. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, has become an icon among far-right extremists. 

Mindock also told police in 2020, in response to complaints that he was harassing a neighbor, that he “will not comply with police” and anticipated that law enforcement may have to shoot him as he will “not go quietly.” He added that police coming to his house was why he always carried a gun. 

An account of Mindock’s on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, reviewed by the Mirror made similar threats. 

“ANY GOVERNMENT PERSONEL (sic) EVEN APPROACHING MY PROPERTY WILL BE CONSIDERED MILITARY COMBATANTS,” Mindock posted in August 2020. The account made a number of similar statements claiming he was “ready” to die and stating that “War IS the only option.” 

Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in Arizona and nationally, with 10 antisemitic incidents happening each day in 2022.