A former junior at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, was sentenced to 21 months in prison after threatening to murder Jewish students and behead their babies.
The Department of Justice said in a press release that 22-year-old Patrick Dai of Pittsford, New York, was sentenced on Monday to 21 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a special assessment in the amount of $100.
“Every student has the right to pursue their education without fear of violence based on who they are, how they look, where they are from or how they worship,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “Antisemitic threats of violence, like the defendant’s vicious and graphic threats here, violate that right. Today’s sentencing reaffirms that we will hold accountable those who violently threaten and intimidate others based on their religious practice or background.”
Dai pleaded guilty and admitted to posting threatening messages to the Cornell University section of an online discussion forum on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29, 2023. He was ultimately arrested on Oct. 31.
“Watch out pig jews. jihad is coming. nowhere is safe. your synagogue will become graveyards. your women will be raped and your children will be beheaded. glory to Allah,” Dai wrote on the message board Oct. 28, a criminal complaint states.
Dai made the posts under several usernames, including “kill jews,” “hamas soldier” and “sieg heil.”
The Cornell student also threatened to “shoot up 104 west,” a campus dining hall that serves kosher food. Dai also allegedly threatened in another post dated Oct. 29 that he would “bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig Jews,” which he described as “rats” who need to be eliminated.
“Today, former Cornell University student Patrick Dai was sentenced to serve 21 months in prison for posting anonymous threats to kill Jewish students,” U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman for the Northern District of New York said. “Before imposing a sentence, the court found that this was a hate crime under the federal Sentencing Guidelines because Dai targeted Jewish students and substantially disrupted the university’s core function of educating its students.”
“The defendant’s threats terrorized the Cornell campus community for days and shattered the community’s sense of safety,” she added.
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