Three sentenced for Molotov attack on Swedish synagogue

June 25 (UPI) -- A district court in Sweden sentenced three men for hate crimes for carrying out a Molotov cocktail attack on a synagogue in Gothenburg in December 2017.

Two of the men, aged 24 years old and 22 years old, were sentenced to two years in prison, while third 18-year-old was sentenced to 15 months in prison after the court determined the attack was a hate crime.

"The crime had the clear goal of threatening, harming, and violating members of the synagogue and the Jewish community more generally," the court wrote in its judgement. "The crime therefore had a hate motive."

The attack took place during a period of increased violence against Jews in Sweden after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

One of the men, a stateless Palestinian citizen, was ordered to be deported from Sweden after serving his sentence and won't be permitted to return until 2028.

The other two, a Palestinian and a Syrian citizen, had refugee status and permanent residence,s o they couldn't be deported.

The three men were convicted for acting as part of a group of masked individuals who hurled Molotov cocktails at a community center attached to a synagogue in Gothenburg, as it hosted a youth event with as many as 30 attendees.

The building didn't catch fire and no one was injured in the attack, as police said people fled to safety in the basement.