The postcards came to their homes, where the kids sleep and the family photos sit on the walls. By the time the mail was opened, Georgia’s first law defining antisemitism had been signed, and the backlash was already in the box.
🧭 Why It Matters: People in Georgia saw a state law about antisemitism collide with open neo-Nazi hate aimed at a rabbi and the only Jewish member of the Georgia House. The case shows how threats can reach public figures and faith leaders where they live, even across state lines.
📌 What Happened: A federal jury in Macon found 32-year-old Ariel E. Collazo Ramos of High Point, North Carolina, guilty of mailing threatening communications with a hate crime enhancement on Nov. 4, 2025, after a two-day trial.
Ramos sent two nearly identical antisemitic postcards from North Carolina to Georgia in early 2024. One went to Georgia State Representative Esther Panitch’s home in Atlanta on the morning of Jan. 31, 2024, the day Georgia House Bill 30 was signed into law. The other arrived at Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar’s home in Macon on Feb. 1, 2024.
Both women had backed House Bill 30, which defined antisemitism in Georgia. Rabbi Bahar had testified before the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2024. Representative Panitch co-sponsored the bill and is the only Jewish member of the Georgia House of Representatives.
⚖️ Inside The Case: At trial in the Middle District of Georgia, prosecutors told jurors that Ramos operated an at-home business called “Patriot Candle Company” in North Carolina. He sold candles, postcards and other products that used racial, antisemitic and white nationalist images and slogans.
From that home base, Ramos mailed a postcard to Rabbi Bahar’s house. On one side, in his handwriting, it said:
“Is there a child rape, torture, and murder tunnel under your house? We have the Zyklon B. Use Code ‘GASTHEJEWS’ for 10% off!”
The other side showed a hand-drawn image of a man labeled as Jewish, dressed in a rat costume, with the words “JEWS ARE RATS.”
Representative Panitch received a postcard with the same wording and drawing at her home address.
Both women took steps for their safety after receiving the cards. In court, they described what they did in response. They also told jurors that both of their families lost relatives murdered by Nazis with Zyklon B gas during the Holocaust.
🏛️ In The Courtroom: The jury’s verdict came on Nov. 4, 2025, after a trial that began Nov. 3 before U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell in Macon.
Ramos was convicted of one count of mailing threatening communications, with a hate crime enhancement. The charge carries a maximum of five years in federal prison, three years of supervised release and a possible $250,000 fine. Federal sentences do not include parole.
Sentencing is set for Jan. 8, 2026, at 9:30 a.m.
🕍 The Lead-Up In Georgia:
Months before the postcards arrived, neo-Nazis had already appeared in front of Temple Beth Israel in Macon.
Members of a neo-Nazi group gathered outside the synagogue in 2023 while the congregation was inside, marking the start of the Sabbath. The demonstration took place before the House Bill 30 hearings, but it set the backdrop for Rabbi Bahar’s later testimony and for the law’s passage.
On Jan. 31, 2024, Georgia’s governor signed House Bill 30, the state’s first law to define antisemitism. That morning, Representative Panitch found the postcard from Ramos at her home. The next day, Rabbi Bahar found hers.
Both women later described those moments on the witness stand.
🌐 The Bigger Context: The Middle District of Georgia includes Macon and surrounding areas. The synagogue at the center of the case, Temple Beth Israel, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the state.
The hate crime enhancement in Ramos’s conviction reflects that the threat targeted the victims because of their Jewish faith, according to prosecutors’ filings and courtroom statements.
📚 The Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Georgia, Court documents.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
