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The Long Island incident happened at around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21 at the Melville Islamic Center, located on Old Neck Road.
Suffolk County Police said Jordan Endler, age 46, entered the place of worship and made several statements regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Video shared on X, formerly Twitter, shows Endler walking in circles around a staircase while repeatedly shouting, “Free the Israeli hostages now.”
A woman filming the incident is heard saying she’s not comfortable and repeatedly asks the man to leave.
When another man approaches and tells him the building is a place of worship, he responds by asking the man if he will pray for the Israeli Jewish women being held hostage by Hamas.
“We pray for everybody,” the man responds.
“You won’t say it. You’re a racist,” Endler yells back before repeatedly shouting, “Free them!”
Endler then asks the woman filming to sign a petition before finally leaving.
According to a statement from the Islamic Center’s president, Talaat Abdelmoneim, the incident began with the man walking inside the men’s prayer room and rubbing his shoes on the carpet. He reportedly then did the same thing in the women’s prayer room.
Following an investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit detectives, Endler was arrested at his East Northport residence on Thursday, Feb. 22.
He was arraigned on charges of criminal trespass and harassment in Suffolk County Court on Friday, Feb. 23. A judge ordered him released on his own recognizance and issued a protection order on behalf of the employee.
Endler is due back in court on Wednesday, April 3.
In a statement on X, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was “deeply disturbed” by the incident and was directing the New York State Police’s Hate Crime Task Force and the state’s Division of Human Rights to offer support.
“Anyone harassing members of the Muslim — or any other — community based on faith must be held accountable,” Hochul said.
Endler has been a practicing lawyer since 2005, primarily focusing on family law, divorce, real estate, and elder law, according to his LinkedIn profile.
As of Friday, his business website appears to have been taken down.
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