The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania charged Yaniv Gola, 50, of Philadelphia, with eight counts of interstate communication of threats on Monday.
Gola, who faces up to 40 years in jail, three years of supervised release, $2 million in fines and an $800 “special assessment,” is alleged to have threatened to kill Jews and Muslims.
From Aug. 2, 2022 to Nov. 5, 2023, Gola allegedly used voice-over-internet protocol to mask his phone number while calling Jews and Muslims and threatening to murder, rape and hurt eight people.
“You [expletive] Jew, now I know where you are. I’m going to kill all you Jews,” he allegedly said in one of the calls. “You all should be shoved back into ovens.” He added that he was coming to the victim’s place of business “to kill you,” per the U.S. attorney’s office.
He allegedly told another person, “I want to put a bullet in your head … you [expletive] Muslims.”
And most recently, per the U.S. attorney’s office, Gola threatened a third victim, “You’re Jewish, I’m from Hamas. You’re animals and pigs … If you don’t leave that place, we’re going to blow you up.”
More information about the defendant, whose name appears to be Hebrew, wasn’t immediately available.
Someone by the same name and Asael Gola were charged in Cinnaminson, N.J.—some 12 miles from Philadelphia—in 2011 with violating second-hand purchasing laws. Both appear to have ties to property in Pennsylvania.