Northeast
Jewish man behind NYC synagogue tunnel viral video thread says content was flipped for antisemitic propaganda
EXCLUSIVE – Before a tunnel under a New York City synagogue was national news, an X user – @FrumTikTok – posted a video thread showing extremist Orthodox Hasidic students clashing with the NYPD.
David, whose last name is being withheld for his safety, had no clue that his post would go viral and spiral into personal threats against him and fuel antisemitic conspiracies and propaganda.
“I started a thread with videos and a brief explanation of what was going on. I thought it was a small story, and maybe a few people would be interested, but lo and behold, it took off like crazy,” David told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
“I shut my phone off for the night and when I woke up, the thread had over 50 million combined views, and the news media was starting to report the story.”
NYC RABBI HORRIFIED WATCHING ‘EXTREMIST STUDENTS’ WHO REPORTEDLY HIRED MIGRANTS TO DIG TUNNEL UNDER SYNAGOGUE
Hasidic Jewish students observe as law enforcement establishes a perimeter around a breached wall in the synagogue that led to a tunnel dug by students. (Bruce Schaff/AP)
The Brooklyn synagogue at the center of attention – the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters – is one of the holiest houses of worship for people who follow the Chabad-Lubavitch faith.
It’s a small, insular sect of the Orthodox movement that only about 16% of American Jews follow, according to the Jewish news outlet Forward.
WILD CLASHES BETWEEN NYPD, AGITATORS OVER UNDERGROUND SYNAGOGUE TUNNELS CAUGHT ON CAMERA, GO VIRAL
Last week, America watched sensational videos of a wild riot and a dark, “secret” tunnel under what’s known as “770,” after its 770 Eastern Parkway address, and concocted conspiracy theories about human trafficking networks and child sacrifices.
Those nonsensical theories spread throughout social media as facts, and were used as antisemitic propaganda, David said.
“Age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories were being spread with hate-filled rhetoric percolating in both extremist and mainstream spaces and across the ideological spectrum,” he said. “But that’s when I discovered the pitfalls of social media, and X in particular.”
World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. (Google Street View)
As Fox News Digital previously reported, a group of “extremist students,” as Chabad spokesperson Motti Seligson called them, believed they were carrying out a decades-long vision by the former head of the Chabad movement, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Potential expansion projects have never come to fruition because of decades of litigation between mainstream members of the Chabad movement and a splinter sect, as each side claims they’re the rightful owner of “770.”
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But shocking videos of an underground tunnel and wild clashes with police “turned a story about expansion and ownership of a Holy Synagogue into heinous rhetoric that dates back to the Middle Ages,” David said.
The hate and threats got so out of hand, David deleted the entire thread and explained why in a Jan. 9 tweet: “I will NOT allow my account to be used by antisemitic Jew haters to promote their pathetic hatred of religious Jews.”
WATCH DAVID’S VIDEO OF SOMEONE GIVING A TOUR OF 770
“When people started telling me that known antisemites were retweeting my videos, I made the decision to delete the entire thread,” David said during his chat with Fox News Digital.
“I wasn’t going to let these Jew haters use my account to spread their hateful and disgusting venom.”
But the dam had already broken at that point, David said, and hate continued to flood his timeline and messages.
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One person told him, “Why are you defending Pedos(sic)? Cause they have the same filthy blood like yours? Delete the Christian from your bio. We Orthodox Christians DEFEND our children, we don’t sacrifice children.
“If you decided to delete the thread about the tunnels of your peers used for satanist rituals and child trafficking it means you are a part of the scheme. Where is your Holy Place? Let’s dig under it, shall we? F—-n child predators. Your day is coming. Y’all pushed it and pushed it and everyone accepted your crimes. But people will stand for their children. And y’all gonna get to prison. And you know what they do in prison to child offenders, right?”
A majority of rabbis, including several who spoke to Fox News Digital or sent emailed statements, denounced the students’ actions. In total, nine students were arrested and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, according to the NYPD.
NYPD officers arrest a student after he was removed from a breach in the wall of the synagogue that led to a tunnel dug by students. (Bruce Schaff/AP)
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky said they’re “pained by the vandalism of a group of young agitators” in a statement on behalf of the Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters. (Chabad Lubavitch HQ/X)
David said he created his account “to spread entertaining and insightful videos, with a good dose of Jewish humor and wit mixed in.”
“I was never in it for the fame,” he said.
Before the riot in 770, he had about 11,400 followers, which swelled to nearly 17,000 followers, and none of his tweets had more than 600,000 views, which was a drop in the ocean compared to the 50 million-plus that watched his video over about 24 hours.
“The fight against antisemitism, terror and hate is not a Jewish fight alone,” he said. “A world that has no place for Jews and Israel, has no place for humanity. Every good person will suffer in the end. So all good people must unite to win this war.”
When asked if he regrets posting the videos, David said he doesn’t because the videos “exposed many of the pro-Palestinian accounts as nothing more than plain-old Jew haters, who propagate age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories.”
“The only thing that needs to change, is X has to do a better job of not allowing these antisemites to continually spread their hateful and disgusting antisemitic conspiracy theories.”
Read the full article from Here
Pittsburg, PA
Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick
Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer behind the former Shop ‘n Save store in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said late Monday night that detectives from the Violent Crime division responded to the area of Amanda Street and Wynoka Street in Carrick after a man’s body was found around 8:30 p.m.
Public Safety said the man’s body was found underneath a trailer and that he was pronounced dead by medics at the scene.
A photo provided by Pittsburgh Public Safety shows officers surrounding a taped off area and what appears to be a refrigerated trailer parked at the loading dock along Amanda Street behind the former Brownsville Shop n’ Save, which closed its doors last month.
No details surrounding the circumstances of the man’s death were provided by Public Safety, who said that the cause and the manner of the man’s death will be determined by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man’s identity has not been released.
Public Safety said the investigation into the man’s death is “ongoing.”
Connecticut
The Great Westport Sandwich Contest kicks off with event at Old Mill Grocery
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce held a kick-off event at Old Mill Grocery on Monday for The Great Westport Sandwich Contest.
The contest runs throughout March with 21 restaurants, delis and markets competing in 10 categories to be crowned the best sandwich maker.
Residents can vote in the following categories: Best chicken, best steak, best vegetarian, best combo, best club, best NY deli, best pressed sandwich, best breakfast sandwich, best wrap, and best fish/seafood sandwich.
After people sample sandwiches, they can vote for their favorites in each category on the chamber’s website. They will also be placed into a drawing to win a free sandwich from one of the 10 winners.
“Of course, the goal is to have people come to Westport and check out restaurants, our markets and our delis. This is a great promotion. I mean it is a competition, but mostly it’s to bring people to the restaurants. It also gives a great community activity because they are the ones who get to vote who makes the best one,” says Matthew Mandell, the chamber’s executive director.
Winners will be announced in April and receive a plaque.
The chamber has held similar contests to determine what establishment has the best pizza, burger, soup and salad.
Maine
How the Good Neighbor Day of Giving telethon is impacting Maine’s communities
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Monday’s telethon held by WABI in partnership with Penquis and Heart of Maine United Way Monday raised money for the heating of homes, something so basic, yet so significant in a state like Maine.
Danielle Hewes, Penquis contributor and volunteer, says some people might not even know that they qualify for heating assistance.
“I think there’s this misconception that you can’t get that if you’re working. Like that’s just for people on general assistance. The truth of the matter is this is for the people that are maybe not able to work, but also for the people that are working. They’re making ends meet,” she said.
For Danielle, that’s what makes events like the telethon so special: it’s making a real difference in the community with people who need the help the most.
Speaking about Penquis in particular, she said, “You learn about all of the other things they do and how they help the community and you can’t help but want to be a part of that.”
If you weren’t able to donate Monday, donations are still being accepted.
You can go to homeunitedway.org/heat.
You can also call 941-2800.
Copyright 2026 WABI. All rights reserved.
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