Grand Lodge of the State of Israel Tel-Aviv HQ Damaged By Missile Attack

by Christopher Hodapp

From the always informative Hiram.be Blog Maçonique French language website comes a report that the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel's headquarters in Tel-Aviv were damaged last month when a Hezbollah missile fired from Lebanon struck the building next door. 

Following the link in the story to the Le Myosotis du Dauphiné Savoie blogsite from November 24th:

[In mid-November], an Iranian Fajr-5 type missile sent by the terrorist organization "Hezbollah" from Lebanon, hit an apartment building, located in the nearby suburbs of Tel Aviv, just opposite the building where the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel is located.

[snip]

During this attack, the building opposite the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel (GLSI), all of which with glass walls, was blown, they were shattered. At the time of the impact, a Lodge had its Works in the Temple going on in the premises. There are no wounded among the Brothers, which is miraculous, given that, in addition to the explosive charge of the missile, it also contained metal parts (schrapnels) intended to make even more human losses.

 

On the other hand, the material damage is significant and the floor where the GLSI premises are located had to be neutralized. 

For these reasons, the Works are suspended, as the Israeli Grand Master announced:

(NOTE: My English translation from his French translation of the Hebrew letter, so apologies for errors - CH):

 "My dear brothers,

Following the impact of a ballistic missile on a building in front of the Grand Lodge, heavy damage was caused to our building: the windows were blown and ceilings collapsed.

Due to this significant damage, it is impossible to continue the activities of the lodges, and the [meetings] are postponed. In addition, it will not be possible to work in [the Temple's lodge rooms] until further notice.

Fortunately, none of the brothers present during the work in Vita were injured.

We will soon communicate a new date for the resumption of work

In the hope of calmer days. "

Ilan Segev, Grand Master

The GL of Israel has about 1,000 members. Owing to the vast international origins of that tiny country's citizens, they have lodges that work in Hebrew, Arabic, French, English, Turkish, Romanian, Russian and Spanish. In keeping with the sacred, combined heritage of the Holy Land for members of the Abrahamic religions, their lodges frequently open a Hebrew Tanakh, a Christian Bible and a Muslim Quran on their altars, and it's common for the office of Grand Master to be held in rotation by a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim. Note that the seal of the Grand Lodge displays the Star of David, the Muslim crescent and the Christian cross.

Outpouring of Sympathy and Support for Grand Lodge of Israel

by Christopher Hodapp

In the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks on Israel this past weekend, the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel AF&AM has posted a statement on its Facebook page acknowledging the enormous outpouring of support by the world's Freemasons. 

Click the image below to enlarge.

It reads:

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Dear Brothers of all the world.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the letters and phone calls from all over the world of fraternal support and solidarity during these challenging times in the State of Israel. It is truly moving to receive so many expressions of identification with the Grand Lodge of Israel, its Dear Brethren, and the entire populace in Israel.

We find solace in being part of this worldwide movement where fraternal unity among Dear Brothers transcends all forms of hatred. Our Grand Lodge serves as an exemplary illustration of this, as we have Dear Brothers from all faiths, races, languages, and countries living together in harmony with genuine brotherly love.

We have received unwavering support from our Dear Brothers living in the North, who stand in solidarity with the Dear Brothers and families residing in the South. Our building is soon to be opened and made available to those in need, and we are voluntarily bringing our Lodge of Magicians to entertain the children. This is how a fraternal society is built, and we are the ones who must lead the way.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely and fraternally.

M.W. Bro Man Segev, Grand Master 

R.W. Bro Jose Cohen, Grand Secretary

The official seal of the Grand Lodge of Israel includes a Star of David, a Christian cross, and a Muslim crescent, all superimposed over a Masonic square and compass and encircled by a Chain of Union. The Grand Lodge was established in 1953, and the country has almost 50 lodges at work today. Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druse brethren all work together, and their various holy books are all opened side by side on the lodge altars. Despite decades of violence in the Middle East centering around the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, finding a better illustration of of true brotherly love in that nation would be difficult.

Six Arrested For Planning Terrorist Attacks on French Masonic Lodge and Past Grand Master

by Christopher Hodapp

The French press is reporting the Tuesday arrest of six members of what authorities are calling a "small neo-Nazi group" who were allegedly planning a violent attack on a Masonic lodge in Thionville. Thionville is located in Moselle, a department in Alsace-Lorraine in northeastern France. 

National anti-terrorism investigators have been observing the group since February. In a separate article reported yesterday, their plans also included an attack on the immediate Past Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France (2018-21), Jean-Philippe Hubsch, who is from Thionville.

From Franceinfo.fr and AFP:

Six members of a small neo-Nazi group, suspected of wanting to take violent action against a Masonic lodge, were arrested Tuesday, May 4 in the Doubs and Bas-Rhin, a judicial source confirmed on Friday to France Televisions. Three of them, two men and a woman aged 29 to 56, must be presented this Friday to a Parisian examining magistrate with a view to possible indictment for "criminal terrorist association", according to this source. The other three individuals were released.

According to BFMTV , this small group is called "Honor and Nation" and [their plans were] aimed at a Masonic lodge in Moselle. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (Pnat) opened a preliminary investigation in February 2021 into the activities of this tiny ultra-right group. According to this judicial source, the [attack] was not imminent. These individuals were arrested following exchanges, and in particular because they were researching explosives. Searches have enabled the authorities to find weapons, but they could be legally detained, said the judicial source.

L'Est Republican reports:

The [current] Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France Pierre-Marie Adam said he learned "with amazement" of this planned attack on a Masonic lodge in Moselle. In a statement, he congratulated "all the police services concerned, placed under the authority of the prefect Laurent Nuñez, national coordinator of intelligence and the fight against terrorism, for their speed and efficiency".

France Bleu posted a very brief statement from Past Grand Master Hubsch:

Jean-Philippe Hubsch has not received any threats lately, but says he is worried despite everything : "I was amazed when I learned this today, even more when I was told that I would have been the potential target. It's a semi-surprise because as a former Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France, I have been exposed throughout my tenure. But in the world we live in, with a resurgence of political or religious extremists, I am unfortunately not surprised "

According to the various reports, the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has had the group under investigation since February. The suspects were conducting online research into explosives and weapons. Reportedly, they had been in contact with Rémy Daillet-Weidemann, who is notorious as a major French conspiracy peddler and currently lives in Malaysia, dodging an international arrest warrant. The former president of the MoDem political party in Haute-Garonne was recently ousted from his own party. Daillet-Weidemann frequently accuses Freemasonry of being a "pedo-satanic obedience." In October 2020, he gave a speech in which he said, "I will ban Masonry and all other dangerous sects that pass over the heads of citizens," and he regularly calls for the overthrow of France's government.

Trial of Would-Be Anti-Masonic Terrorist Delayed Again

The Associated Press reported today that the trial of Samy Hamzeh in Milwaukee has been delayed again. Hamzeh was originally arrested by Federal agents in January 2016 for plotting a mass shooting terrorist attack at the Humphrey Masonic Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He discussed his plans in detail and purchased two fully automatic machine guns from Federal informants and agents.

Unfortunately, the AP deliberately chose language to paper over the anti-Masonic motivation for Hamzeh's plot by choosing their words very carefully:

MILWAUKEE — The trial for a man accused of plotting a mass shooting in defense of Islam at a Masonic temple in downtown Milwaukee has been delayed.

The trial was set to begin Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee, but prosecutors have appealed a judge’s decisions to exclude evidence...

Nice try. Hamzeh was NOT "plotting a mass shooting in defense of Islam." Freemasons had not—and were not—attacking, insulting or besmirching Islam in any way, shape or form. But today's AP story lede has attempted to ascribe some onus onto the Masonic fraternity instead of the would-be terrorist. 

Hamzeh's actual plan was to open fire with multiple automatic weapons deliberately at a large Masonic event in the Humphrey Masonic Center (photo) and bar the doors to prevent escapes. His motivation was a conspiracy theory fueled by fundamentalist and extremist ideology that brands Masons as enemies of the Muslim faith. 

That's a big shift in interpretation from the AP story published on Tuesday of this week. At least that one explained the crackpot theory that Hamzeh was espousing - that Freemasons were somehow secretly supporting the terrorist group ISIS in order to discredit Islam in world opinion. Without seeing the actual material from the case, it's a pretty good guess that this absurd notion was tied in with the standard "Jewish-Masonic Worldwide Conspiracy Theory.®" 

But a trial jury will never hear a whiff of it.

Hamzeh is claiming entrapment by Federal agents, a defense tactic that almost never succeeds. But because numerous terrorism charges sought by government prosecutors have been thrown out by the judge, a jury will never hear many of their actual recorded conversations in which he discussed his motives for wanting to buy fully automatic machine guns. Despite Hamzeh's fully documented conversations in which he detailed his planned slaughter of Masons and their families, the charges have been reduced merely to the illegal acquisition of machine guns. 

From Tuesday's story, 'Man accused of plan to attack Milwaukee temple goes on trial':

Attorneys for 26-year-old Samy Hamzeh plan to argue that the FBI entrapped their client, who they say never owned a gun, has no criminal record, and was incapable of mass murder. The FBI has said their agents thwarted an act of terrorism when they arrested Hamzeh in January 2016.

The Journal Sentinel reports that Hamzeh, an American citizen who spent his childhood in Jordan, was ultimately only charged with possessing two machine guns and a silencer, all of which he bought from undercover FBI agents who had informants set up the deal.

[snip]

The case against Hamzeh began when a longtime friend identified in court records only as Steve, who was in the country illegally, told FBI agents in September 2015 that Hamzeh talked of going to Egypt to get a gun and terrorist training. That’s when the FBI planted a professional informant, identified only as Mike, to work at the same restaurant as Hamzeh and Steve, according to court documents.

Mike introduced Hamzeh to YouTube videos espousing the belief that Masons secretly support the Islamic State, which through its terrorism was discrediting all Muslims, according to court records. That’s how Hamzeh and the informants settled on Milwaukee’s Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Temple as a target. Defense attorneys argue the FBI induced Hamzeh to buy weapons by offering them at cheaper price and after months of indoctrination.

Mike recorded his conversations with Hamzeh, but not all are being allowed as evidence. U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper, who will oversee the trial, ruled that some were prejudicial.

Included among the recorded conversations with Mike and Steve are Hamzeh’s cancellation of the attack after he said he consulted with two imams who told him what he was planning was wrong.

But a magistrate judge who heard a request from Hamzeh to be released on bail in 2017 did not see that conversation as evidence that Hamzeh wasn’t really committed to violence.

“It comes down to this,” wrote then-U.S. Magistrate Judge David E. Jones. “It should not take the spiritual guidance of two religious leaders to dissuade a person from committing mass murder.”

U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper 
(Photo: Journal Sentinel)

Even this AP story eliminates almost all of the evidence being excluded from the trial because of court rulings by U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper (photo).


Reporter Bruce Vielmetti of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a far more detailed account of the legal battles that have been waged to throw out all of the anti-Masonic terrorism charges against Hamzeh, or even any mention of his planned attack. 


From his article, "Entrapment defense in 2016 Masonic Center shooting plot will have to wait as prosecutors appeal judge's rulings" :

In pre-trial rulings, [Judge] Pepper barred prosecutors' use of about 70 statements or discussions between Hamzeh and the informants.

Motive is not an element of the crimes, so Hamzeh's early talk of going to Israel is not relevant to him buying the guns, Pepper found, though his comments about wanting to take guns from Israeli soldiers and spraying other people with bullets can be admitted as possibly relevant to his desire to obtain a machine gun.

Much of Hamzeh and the informants' chilling, detailed discussions about how an attack on the Masonic Center would take place will not be allowed either. Pepper again found them irrelevant to buying the guns and highly prejudicial.
In a 51-page order, Pepper lays out, passage by passage, which of more than 100 exchanges between Hamzeh and the informants will be admissible and which will not.

For example, Hamzeh's statements about going to Israel to fight with Hamas against Jews or how his martyrdom might inspire others don't help prove whether he was inclined to get a machine gun in Milwaukee, Pepper found, and excluded them.

But she allowed Hamzeh's talk of taking Kalashnikov rifles from Jewish soldiers and spraying innocent people because it's arguably related to an interest in machine guns.
She also excluded testimony from a government expert about the Middle East and whether conspiracy theories about the Masons exist in that region.

According to court records, at some point Hamzeh watched YouTube videos espousing the belief that Masons secretly support the Islamic State, which through its terrorism was discrediting all Muslims, which purportedly led Hamzeh and the informants to settle on the Milwaukee center as a target.

Hamzeh and the informants discussed who would be shot first, whether children would be spared and other details. But those talks "raise the risk that the jury will convict the defendant for his cold, calculating and chilling words, and not because he possessed the charged items," Pepper ruled, and blocked them from use as evidence at trial...

I'm reminded of a situation many years ago. My wife and I were confronted very late one evening by a drunken driver who leapt from his car, pointed a pistol into my face, and screamed over and over that he was going to blow my head off, before suddenly jumping back into his truck and driving off. When I attempted to file charges against him after identifying his vehicle, a weary cop shook his head and said, "You'd have had a better case if he pulled the trigger." I always pitied some future convenience store clerk who handed that guy the wrong change one night when he might be on a similar bender, similarly armed, and in a similarly unhinged frame of mind. 

Let's all hope Mr. Hamzeh has sufficiently learned not to believe moronic conspiracy theories from the Internet the next time he spots a square and compass on a Masonic hall, because it seems that any outcome of this watered down trial will result in little actual punishment. Or deterrent for anyone similarly inspired.

NYC Bomb Close to GL of New York Masonic Hall

A quick comparison of maps of the New York City neighborhood of Chelsea where last night's explosion and subsequent second device were found shows that the Grand Lodge of New York's majestic Masonic Hall appears to be about a half block from the first explosion site.  Early news reports incorrectly showed the bomb that exploded was on the corner of 6th Avenue and West 23rd Street. The GL building is at 71 W. 23rd, directly across the street. One channel's site showed it directly in front of the building. 

The actual site of the explosion was in front of the Center for the Blind's residential apartments at 135 W. 23rd. The explosion happened at around 8:30PM.

A second device was found several blocks away at 27th Street, between 6th and 7th. It was defused by the NYPD Bomb Squad. It appeared to be constructed from a pressure cooker.

Approximately 29 people were injured by the blast, one seriously, and there were extensive reports of shattered windows throughout the area, as well as in passing cars unlucky enough to be directly in front of the bomb. 

However, messages this morning do not seem to indicate any Brethren were injured or killed, nor was there any damage to the Masonic Hall. For that, at least, we can be thankful. It was a crowded Saturday night in the popular NYC neighborhood, and directly in front of a blind center and St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church (although, the 170 year old parish was closed several years ago, despite major efforts to save it by area residents). The effects of this blast could have been far, far worse.

The photo below gives you some idea of just how close this was to the GL of NY. In the center is the St. Vincent de Paul Church, and on the right side of the frame is the Masonic Hall. The blind center residence is to the left.

Unbelievably, shortly after the bomb detonation in New York, another explosion was reported last night in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia just off of the pedestrian mall. It occurred at 3rd and Water Streets, just two blocks from Widow's Son Lodge No. 60's temple. Fortunately, authorities there have preliminarily determined it to have been an underground transformer explosion, and not related to anything nefarious.

Things were already on edge Saturday. Earlier in the day, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can in Seaside Park, New Jersey at the site of a Marine Corps charity run. Similar to the New York incident, two more unexploded devices were located by authorities and defused. Registration for the Seaside Semper Five race was slower than anticipated, which delayed the start of the race. As a result, no runners were passing by the bomb at the time it exploded, and there were fortunately no injuries.

Brother Angel Millar passed along this photo from Sunday morning and reports that 23rd Street and 6th Avenue around the Grand Lodge are blocked to traffic, and police are still in the location. I also understand there are two parades scheduled in the city, and the President is traveling to the United Nations. So, chaos in the NYC area will be worse than the average Sunday. I suspect if you have a lodge or appendant body meeting on Monday at the GL building, you should call tomorrow just to make sure you can even get there or that the building is even open.

Brother Mark Koltko-Rivera passed this photo along with this message:

Another picture, this one from the website of The Daily Beast. The bomb went off between 500 and 600 feet west of Masonic Hall. In the photo, you see investigators at the actual intersection of 6th Ave. and 23rd Street, over 400 feet away from the blast. If you look on the upper margin towards the left, you see the bottom of the huge blue flag (with the words "New York" visible; the words "Grand Lodge" and the S&C are in gold, out of frame) that flies at the main entrance.

---

PLEASE NOTE:

 At of Sunday afternoon, there is absolutely NO indication that Masons or any lodge buildings were targeted in these incidents. I'm simply noting the close proximity of the explosions to lodge locations, as well as responding to messages of alarm from concerned Masons who are familiar with the areas involved. After the incident in Milwaukee earlier this year, security has been stepped up in many lodge buildings, especially larger ones. New York has certainly done so. But it pays to be aware. 

It's worth mentioning that none of these incidents have been linked to radical Islamic or Jihadist activity as of this moment, and it is likely in the New York situation that the bomber was completely unaware of the location of the nearby Grand Lodge. I am certainly not making such a link. Had he been motivated by Islamic fundamentalism, he undoubtedly would have placed it right in front of the Masonic Hall. 

As Brother Millar reminded me today, anti-Masonic language is common in many parts of the Islamic world, such as the Hamas Charter, Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education curriculum, Jihadist propaganda circulated by ISIS and al-Queda, and even mainstream Arab world publications. Yet, so many Western analysts who purport to be experts in terrorism are all too often totally ignorant of the anti-Masonic undercurrents in so much Islamist media. Masons are frequently linked with Zionism, principally because of our Old Testament symbolism. And our religious toleration is simply not to be tolerated. And so it continues.

Fortunately, in this weekend's incidents, we don't seem to have been in anyone's sights.

Turkish Coup Leaders Branded As "Masonic"

In the aftermath of the failed military coup against Turkey's president Recap Tayyip Erdoğan in July, pressure by his government has been stepped up to compel the United States to deport his political enemy Fethullah Gülen, who is currently living in self-exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Gulen's influential organization has millions of followers in Turkey, and Erdoğan's government has used Gulen as his favorite public scapegoat whenever anything in the country has gone wrong since they parted ways politically in 2014. The government has branded Gulen's followers as the "Fethullahist Terror Organization" (FETO), and has been purging or imprisoning tens of thousands of Turkish citizens accused of sympathizing with the coup. Many, if not most, are accused of being FETO "Gulenists."

A story appeared yesterday on the English language Hurriet Daily News website, and it appears that Erdoğan's folks are trying out a new public line against their FETO foes - accusing them of being "Masonic."

The Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which has been blamed for the failed coup attempt of July 15, has emerged as a “modern-day masonic organization,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş has said, defining the organization as a new religion.

“We know that these people regard only those who are inside their community as believers. Those people have only put their community forward by removing the idea of Muslim unity. Unfortunately, they have succeeded in removing Muslims from the unity of the mosque for years. These people have emerged as a modern-day masonic organization. They have become pharaohs,” Kurtulmuş said at the opening ceremony of the Extraordinary Religious Council in Ankara on Aug. 3, almost three weeks after a deadly coup attempt blamed on the group.

The deputy prime minister also defined the organization as a “new religion.”
“In this respect, they are actually a new religion. They have entered a phase of religious supremacy ontologically to put up a new religion by integrating God’s latest religion with another religion and completely adding great delusions to this issue. Moreover, one of the most significant problems of this organization is the fact that they do not accept other Muslims separate from themselves and regard them as the ‘other.’ They did not regard those people as individuals of Islamic law within their circles, even if they had 99 Muslim signs, if they were not from them,” Kurtulmuş said.

Back in 1975 when Erdogan was a callow youth in the Youth Commission of the National Salvation Party, he wrote and directed a play called "Mas-kom-yah" (Mason-Communist-Jew). And anti-Masonic articles appear occasionally in the press. Masons there today must keep a low profile.

Most regular, recognized grand lodges around the world are in amity with the Grand Lodge of Turkey, but Masonry in that nation has had a tumultuous history since its reputed beginnings in 1721. One notable violent event occurred back in 2004, when attackers with automatic weapons and explosives burst into a Masonic lodge in Istanbul, Turkey, sprayed it with bullets, and set off several bombs. One person was killed, along with one of the terrorists, and six people were injured. Ultimately, eighteen suspects were questioned, and ten were charged with the operation.

In March of 2015, a story appeared in the Turkish press purportedly producing aged, stained documents that alleged Gulen became a Mason in the early 1970s.  According to the ridiculous claims in the article:

The secret documents also prove that Gülen communicated with the Moon Sect, MOSSAD and CIA via Knights Templar, as he was nurtured and prepared as a project.

Nonsense, but it plays well there. 

The Grand Lodge of Turkey immediately denounced the documents as forgeries, but obviously the government's goal is to connect Gulen and Freemasonry, and by association, bring suspicion on the rest of the fraternity there.

H/T Istvan Horvath

---

UPDATE FRIDAY AUG. 5th:

I am receiving conflicting messages out of Europe and elsewhere about this situation, as you can probably imagine.  Yesterday after posting the first part of this story, I was contacted by two Masons in Europe with a warning not to discuss Masonry with Turkish Masons. At that time, I felt it was of enough concern that it needed to be passed along.

Then today, I received a message from a Turkish Mason who said lodges were merely closed for the summer, and there are no problems for Masons in Turkey.

Given the nature of the earlier messages, coupled with ongoing mainstream news coming out of Turkey, AND combined with the ongoing propaganda war between the Erdogan versus Gulen supporters and detractors, it is difficult to ascertain what can be believed. The coup attempt and the subsequent crackdown (which has included the shuttering of newspaper and television operations, arrests of employees, and the blocking of some Western websites) has unleashed much misinformation.

I hope to update this with more definitive information actually from within Turkey as soon as possible. It is NOT my intention to spread false information, and will correct this story and post a new one with appropriate mea culpas if it turns out to have been false in any way. 

PLEASE READ THIS POST - CLICK HERE

Freemason Boogeymen

A gunman in Tulsa, Oklahoma is on trial for opening fire and wounding two people earlier this year. Andrew Dennehy wounded a sheriff's deputy and a bystander before being shot by police outside of a Tulsa courthouse. At least one psychologist's report says Dennehy is incompetent, and remarks made before and during the trial seem to back that up. He thinks the Freemasons and the Illuminati are out to get him.

 From NewsOn6.com:

Family members say in the weeks before the courthouse shooting, Dennehy was paranoid, delusional, and having hallucinations.

The report says Dennehy does understand the charges, but can't assist in his defense.

It says he repeatedly said that he's not crazy, but did say the Illuminati and Freemasons work for Satan and are after him.
He said he tried to have police kill him, so the Illuminati and Freemasons would leave his parents alone.

He said he was worried his trial wouldn't be fair, because the judge might be a Freemason or some of the jurors.

The psychologist recommended Dennehy get treatment and said he could possibly regain competency to stand trial at a later date.
Prosecutors plan to call witnesses to show Dennehy is competent to stand trial.

The judge said the competency trial could take two or three days.

'Devil Worshipping Freemasons' Targeted by 71 Year Old Nun

A Catholic nun has been accused of sending threatening letters containing a white powder to several notable people in the UK, accusing them of being devil worshipping Freemasons, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

From the Daily Mail, "Catholic nun, 71, 'sent envelopes containing white powder' to parliamentary figures including Nick Clegg accusing them of being 'evil devil worshipping freemasons'" by Anna Edwards:

A Catholic nun is alleged to have sent six envelopes containing white powder to parliamentary figures including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, a court heard today. The defendant, who is known as Sister Ruth Augustus, is accused of scrawling 'devil worshipping' on envelopes filled with white powder that she posted to Nick Clegg and Baroness Scotland, Harrow Crown Court was told.

The letters were intercepted, three at a time on two separate occasions, at a mail screening centre and the powder was found to be non hazardous, the court heard.

The defendant, 71, of Leyton, east London, denies six counts of hoaxes involving noxious substances or things.

Mark Kimsey, prosecuting, said Augustus accepts that she sent envelopes with letters in them but says police put the white powder in them.

Mr Kimsey said three envelopes were intercepted at a mail screening centre in east London on June 17, 2011.

A worker was checking mail at 5.30am when three envelopes raised concerns. One was addressed to Mr Clegg and on the envelope was written 'devil worshipping', 'freemason', 'sex with thirty plus women' and 'your poor Catholic wife and children'. The second was to Baroness Scotland, and had a swastika on it, and two crosses, and 'stop this evil devil worshipping'.

The third was to Baroness Kennedy, and was endorsed with a swastika, and 'stop these evil devil worshipping freemasons'.
Sister Ruth Augustus is accused of sending envelopes to Baroness Kennedy and Edward Leigh MP.

The envelopes contained a gritty substance, but it was found they had already tested negative for anthrax, and specialist police who were called in found them to be non hazardous.

In a later article Sister Augustus was quoted:

The jury heard that she told interviewing officer Detective Constable Anne Adams: 'The police are run by freemasons. All the top women are in it.'

I love that she's throwing a peace sign in her photo. Thanks, sister.