Carlos Portugal Gouvea, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, was arrested in Brookline, Massachusetts after allegedly firing a pellet gun outside Temple Beth Zion as Yom Kippur began — the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

According to Brookline police, the incident unfolded on the night of October 1 at 9:07 p.m. Security guards working at Temple Beth Zion for the holiday reported hearing two “loud shots” and saw Gouvea holding the pellet rifle. When they confronted him, Gouvea allegedly set the gun down, then lunged for it before fleeing into his nearby residence. Police arrived quickly, handcuffed him outside his home, and arrested him.

Gouvea, 43, was charged with illegally discharging a pellet gun, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and malicious damage of personal property after a parked car window was found shattered with a pellet sitting inside. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Brookline District Court Thursday and was released on personal recognizance pending a November hearing.

Gouvea told police he had simply been “hunting rats” with the pellet rifle. Officers warned him about the “alarm he had caused,” but the incident drew more than a dozen police officers to the temple just as Yom Kippur services were underway — a time when Jewish communities across the globe heighten security in the face of rising antisemitism.

The episode quickly drew national outrage, amplified on social media by StopAntisemitism and others who emphasized that a Harvard Law visiting professor had fired shots near a synagogue at the start of Yom Kippur. Critics highlighted Gouvea’s past online behavior, noting that on October 7, 2023 — the day Hamas and Palestinian civilians slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis — he posted “Rainy day, party time!” on social media.

Hm. pic.twitter.com/oKeWXtdAbd

— Ben B@dejo (@BenTelAviv) October 5, 2025

Harvard Law School announced only late on Friday that Gouvea had been placed on administrative leave “as the school seeks to learn more about this matter.” But this raised further controversy. Observers accused the university and its student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, of soft-pedaling the story. Initially, The Crimson reported the arrest prominently and noted Harvard’s silence. But after outrage grew online, the headline and lead of the article were changed to emphasize Gouvea’s “administrative leave” — without clearly stating that the leave came only after the story had gone viral.

Critics charged that Harvard and The Crimson had coordinated a narrative to downplay the incident, burying the fact that an alleged gunman near a synagogue on Yom Kippur was still actively teaching at the law school until public pressure forced action.

Gouvea serves as an associate professor at the University of São Paulo and runs a Brazilian think tank on “social and environmental justice.”

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out the Trump administration’s latest push for peace between Israel and Hamas, arguing that the new proposal represents the closest the region has come to a full hostage release and offers a viable path to peace — if hard choices are made, and the right steps followed in order.

Rubio emphasized that the first phase of the Trump plan is non-negotiable and paramount: the release of all 48 hostages — 20 alive, 28 deceased — in exchange for Israel pulling its forces back to the so-called “yellow line,” a line roughly aligned with Israel’s military position as of August 2024. “This is the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released,” Rubio told host Martha Raddatz, underscoring that “every single one” must come home before any long-term solutions can even be considered.

Rubio repeatedly stressed that everything depends on that initial breakthrough. “Priority number one is to get the hostages released,” he said flatly. Without that step, “you ain’t gonna have long-term peace here.”

The second phase of the deal, Rubio explained, involves building a governance structure for Gaza — something the U.S., Israel, and international partners would oversee. The vision includes technocrats, preferably Palestinian, with no ties to Hamas or any terror group. It’s a massive challenge, Rubio admitted, but essential to any “permanency to the end of the conflict.”

Raddatz pushed Rubio on the controversial issue of Palestinian statehood. “Yes or no: does the Trump administration support Palestinian statehood?” she asked. Rubio refused to box in the answer. “That’s not a yes or no question; that’s a process,” he replied. He acknowledged that the aspiration exists, but cautioned that statehood must be earned through credible governance and guaranteed security — not handed to an entity still harboring genocidal intent toward Israel. “Forget about statehood” if Gaza remains a breeding ground for terror, he said. “We can’t have a Palestinian state that’s governed by Hamas.”

That’s where demobilization enters — a critical piece of Phase Two. “As long as there’s a threat emanating from Gaza against Israel’s security,” Rubio warned, “there isn’t going to be peace.” Whether it’s Hamas or a future group, any entity committed to building tunnels, firing rockets, or kidnapping civilians must be disarmed and dismantled. “That demobilization has to happen,” Rubio declared. “Clearly, Hamas is an organization that we do not believe can be a part of that.”

Pressed on logistics, Rubio noted that military operations must pause to ensure safe hostage exchange. “You can’t have an exchange of hostages if bombs are going off and active combat is occurring,” he explained. Israel has agreed to suspend offensive operations — only responding to imminent threats like potential suicide attacks.

But with Hamas known for playing games, Rubio was also clear-eyed about risks: “If it’s clear that the hostages aren’t going to be released and they’re playing games,” he said, “then I think the president stated what our position is going to be.” He didn’t elaborate, but the implication was unmistakable: Hamas has a limited window to comply.

Rubio also made it clear that Trump wants the deal to move fast — no weeks of dithering over details. “We cannot be here three weeks from now still discussing the logistics of how hostages are going to be released,” Rubio warned.

In a nutshell, the Trump peace framework is two-fold: First, secure the hostages’ release, a non-negotiable prerequisite. Second, build a secure, non-terrorist governance structure for Gaza. And while Rubio remained “optimistic,” he also made it clear: “This is not going to be easy.”

But, he added, “We are in a much better place today than we were seven days ago.”

Sec Rubio: "Until Gaza is governed by people that are not interested in destroying Israel, until there are no security threats emanating against Israel from Gaza, forget about statehood.

Right now, the priority number one is to get the hostages released.” pic.twitter.com/nO4cpnEd2e

— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) October 5, 2025

“This is the closest we've come to getting all of the hostages released. Every single one.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed optimism that a deal between Hamas and Israel to end the war in Gaza could finally be reached.

Read more: https://t.co/45YCwsYvhB pic.twitter.com/jFqk6psCMa

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 5, 2025