Saturday, September 14, 2019
Elder of Ziyon |
| Matthew James Amiot, from his Facebook page |
From the NY Daily News:
Minnesota police made an arrest Friday in connection with a fire that destroyed Adas Israel Synagogue in Duluth earlier this week.
Matthew James Amiot, 36, was booked on a first-degree arson charge Friday and is in custody at the St. Louis County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
The Star Tribune reported that no one else was arrested on Friday and that the suspect had nearly a dozen misdemeanor convictions for trespassing, burglary and theft.
Amiot's Facebook page is a little sparse, but it gives a little indication of what he is like.
He doesn't seem to be a white nationalist. He has had previous profile images of Tupac Shakur with the quote "Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine?"
He also has friends in Duluth who are black.
Amiot also seems obsessed with organized crime, with a number of photos of this Goodfellas quote (his profile picture for the past year) and a picture of noted crime bosses of the 1930s:
I don't think a white nationalist would quote a rap artists or show great affinity to Italian mobsters.(There are a number of Jewish mobsters in the photo as well.)
He loves guns, as the photo on top and this one shows:
He seems to be anti-Christian, based on this photo:
(He has one picture of Jesus but I think it is meant to be ironic.)
He announced his engagement in 2007 and one of the comments from a friend was "Church lady?" followed by a "Hehehe," so it seems to have been a joke.
The engagement didn't last, and this post might explain why.
If I had to make a guess, I'd think that Amiot is an incel, a trait shared by many mass murderers. Incel forums are known to include antisemitism along with racism and extreme sexism as well as anger against the world for their forced celibacy.
As bad as burning down a synagogue is, Amiot might have been very close to doing a mass shooting instead.
