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N.Y. man accused of threatening to bomb Brookline hotel over Palestinian flag gets pre-trial probation
The man’s charge was reduced to a misdemeanor from the initial felony charge of making a bomb or hijacking threat, court records showed.
A New York man accused in June of allegedly threatening to bomb a Brookline hotel that flew a Palestinian flag has been sentenced to pre-trial probation, according to court records.
Daniel Freundlich, 45, of Brooklyn, was initially charged with making a bomb or hijacking threat, a felony, but the charge was reduced to the misdemeanor of threatening to commit a crime, court records showed. Freundlich pleaded not guilty to the initial charge in June.
Back in April, Freundlich allegedly made several calls to the Iris Hotel in Brookline asking if the hotel was a “Jew free zone” and saying that he would “make sure something blows up” if he stayed there, according to a Brookline police report. David Linton, a spokesperson for the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, told Brookline.News that Freundlich was ordered to stay away from the hotel and continue mental health counseling on top of one year of probation.
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The hotel first started to receive the provocative phone calls when management raised a Palestinian flag on the building’s flagpole, causing “an uproar” in the Jewish community and prompting a protest outside the hotel. Wagner Hospitality Management, which owns the hotel, said on Facebook that the flag was raised not as a political statement but rather to honor U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, who was staying at the hotel for the weekend.
“This flag should not be a contentious symbol and we would show the same respect for any dignitary choosing to stay with us regardless of their heritage or ethnicity,” the company wrote. “The flag was there only for that day and has nothing to do with politics. We have many Jewish guests staying at our hotel and we respect everyone.”
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However, Freundlich told The Boston Globe that he made the calls not in objection to the flag but because the hotel “canceled an event for the Jewish community.” Social media reports and right-wing media outlets alleged that hotel management had cancelled a Passover seder the same weekend that Tlaib visited, according to Brookline.News.
After the hotel received “numerous” calls from Freundlich, police obtained records of the calls and enlisted the help of the FBI and local law enforcement, who later interviewed him May 13. Freundlich allegedly admitted to making the calls but denied saying anything about the hotel blowing up, claiming that it “would be stupid to say that.”
Kelli Porges, Freundlich’s attorney, declined to comment Thursday evening on her client or the initial or amended charge against him.
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