Two men convicted of terrorizing Jewish communities in New Jersey, including firebombing two synagogues and throwing a Molotov cocktail into a rabbi's home, have been sentenced to 35 years in prison each. Anthony Graziano and Aakash Dalal were sentenced in a Bergen County court on Friday after being convicted last year of terrorism charges. They faced up to life in prison in the case, which was the first to employ a state anti-terrorism statute that carries a mandatory sentence of at least 30 years in prison. "They were partners in hate. Partners in intimidation and ultimately in crime," assistant prosecutor Brian Sinclair said. Besides the firebombings, prosecutors say the men also spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti on two other synagogues. Their attack included the fire in the bedroom of a rabbi's home in Rutherford. The rabbi, his wife, five children and his parents were sleeping at the time. At the sentencing hearing, Graziano apologized and said, "The way I chose to express myself with violence was wrong. The hatred I had for the Jewish faith was unacceptable. I hope the Jewish community can find peace after tragedy." His mother also apologized to the Jewish community and said her son had been "brainwashed and taught to hate" by Dalal. Dalal did not speak at Friday's sentencing. Prosecutors also said that Dalal pushed Graziano along during the hate spree. "I don't trust you until you kill a Jew," Dalal wrote to Graziano in one chat message, prosecutors said. Attorneys for the men argued for the minimum sentence, pointing out that both were only 19 years old when the attacks happened. "He's not a young man who is bitter," said Graziano's attorney, Ian Silvera. "He recognizes that he made a huge mistake in his life. ... To kill anyone was never his intention."
Dalal's attorney said that the 30-year prison sentence mandated by the law was excessive for someone who committed a crime at 19.
