Groups condemn anti-Semitic vandalism at Bernie Sanders Florida campaign office
Florida advocacy groups are denouncing anti-Semitic vandalism after a volunteer-run office for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was tagged with pro-Nazi symbols and messages last week, authorities said.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, a suspect approached the building in Lake Worth Beach on March 25 about midnight. The unidentified person was caught on video spray-painting a swastika and a message in black letters that read, “Voting didn’t stop us last time.”
The incident at the campaign office is the second anti-Semitic vandalism reported in the past week in Lake Worth Beach. On March 26, a similar message and pro-Nazi symbols were spray-painted on the Guatemalan-Maya Center, an immigrant community nonprofit center in Lake Worth Beach.
Sanders, who is Jewish, tweeted Sunday condemning the vandalism incident and saying he would “fight to make sure hatred has no place in our country.”
Sheri Zvi, Florida director for the Anti-Defamation League, said it was the second time in one month where Sanders was targeted. On March 5, a protester unfurled a Nazi flag at a Sanders rally in Phoenix.
“The Nazi swastika is a symbol of hate and antisemitism, and has no place in civilized society,” Zvi said in a statement to the Herald. “We call on people from across the political spectrum to come together to denounce this abhorrent incident and urge civility during this campaign season.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim organization in the U.S., said Monday in a statement that hate groups were using the COVID-19 pandemic to “prey and instill fear on what they perceive as vulnerable communities.”
“A second neo-Nazi hate crime in less than a week cannot be our new normal,” said CAIR-Florida executive director Hassan Shibly. “We call upon the local and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate these heinous acts as hate crimes.”
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 2:09 PM.
