Ohio man arrested after making antisemitic slurs at Jewish family through doorbell camera

An Ohio man was taken into custody on Monday after making antisemitic slurs towards two families with Israeli flags displayed on their lawns.

Jacob Reidy, 39, was caught on a Ring doorbell camera by one of the families before being arrested on charges related to criminal trespass, according to the Bexley Police Department.

"I was so shaken up that I had to call the police right away because I wanted them to get here as fast as they could and be able to find him," Debbie Meyer, of Bexley, Ohio, told Fox News.

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The incident occurred just a day after FBI Director Chris Wray warned of a spike in domestic threats linked to Israel's war against Hamas that began after the terrorist organization's brutal Oct. 7 attack. More than 1,400 Israelis have died since the war began and at least 150 adults and children were taken hostage into Gaza, according to the Israeli government. About 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Meyer said she was home with her husband, who was watching a football game, on Sunday when the doorbell rang. She decided not to answer it because she thought the man looked suspicious. 

"Hey, can I help you?" Meyer said to the man.

"Hello?" the man asked. "Do I just talk into this? I’ve never used one of these," he said, leaning into the Ring doorbell.

"Yeah, go ahead, what can I help you with, sir?" Meyer replied.

"You Zionist pigs are f****** disgusting," the man said before the footage was cut off by Meyer exiting the app to call the police.

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"I was so shaken up that I had to call the police right away because I wanted them to get here as fast as they could and be able to find him," she said.

The police department said it is investigating the incident with state and federal authorities. 

A man was caught saying antisemitic slurs over a Ring doorbell to a family with an Israeli flag on their lawn. (Courtesy of Debbie Meyer)

"The Department is in constant communication with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and working closely on this and potential matters which may occur subsequent to last week’s attacks," a statement obtained by Fox News read.

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"We encourage everyone that if they see something, say something and report it immediately to aid us in our efforts," it added.

Reidy — who has no criminal history — was spotted last Saturday shouting slurs from his car outside a synagogue, according a police spokesperson.

Police also confirmed that Reidy went to another house a block away and made similar antisemitic insults, calling a family "dirty Zionists" and telling them he "wished they would die," according to the police spokesperson.

"They told him to get off the property," Meyer, who is familiar with the other family, said. "Then he laughed like he did when he left my house and walked down the driveway, got in his car and drove away. Like no worries in the world." 

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The mother of three said she put the Israeli flag on her lawn on last Monday to show her solidarity for Israel’s ongoing war against the terrorist organization Hamas.

"When you’re in America, many share their support through donations, acts of kindness and prayer and for me, to put that flag up there was my way of supporting Israel," she said. "I knew in my heart deep down that anytime you put an Israeli flag up, you take a chance because of people who are out there who are antisemitic and hate Jews."

Meyer, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor, said the incident deeply upset her family.

Debbie Meyer says her mother, who died in 1989, was a Holocaust survivor who hid in a forest in Poland for three years. Pictured here is Meyer's mother, Rita Katz Hoffman, as a child in Europe and as an adult living in the U.S. (Courtesy of Debbie Meyer)

"I am the child of a survivor of the Holocaust, so this hits home for me on so many different levels," she said. "So I take the barbaric acts committed against Israel and my family and friends over there very personally."

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The Meyer family has no plan to remove the flag.

"It’s not coming down," Meyer said. "That flag is staying up."

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