Residents fed up with ongoing antisemitic graffiti at Oakland's Lake Merritt: 'Really just shocking'
It comes a year after a massive menorah was destroyed there.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Residents are saying enough is enough after the discovery of antisemitic graffiti at Lake Merritt in Oakland.
It comes a year after a massive menorah was destroyed there.
"It was really just shocking, really hateful things said. I can't. I don't even want to," said Zoe Levine, Oakland Jewish Alliance.
It started after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The graffiti one is of the latest incidents. It showed up on the last night of Hanukkah right beside a massive Menorah. Last year, it was vandalized and thrown in the lake.
"When it originally started, that was my walking path with my children around the lake, and seeing just the pure vitriol was really too much. And so that's what motivated me to start doing some of the removal on my own," said Levine.
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Levine is taking matters into her own hands, but quickly realizing..."It was like drinking from a firehose. You know, there was just so much every day. Just more and more totally unchecked, that I kind of had to get more help."
"This is really just the latest example of the unaddressed and ongoing antisemitism crisis that we're seeing in Oakland," said Jonathan Mintzer, Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the Bay Area's Jewish Community Relations Council .
"JCRC surveys that we do with professional researchers show that post-October 7, 60% of Jews in the Bay Area feel less safe than they did before, and over a third have directly experienced or witnessed antisemitism," Mintzer said.
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The hate hitting right at home for Mintzer, who lives in Oakland and walks these paths.
"It is time for our leaders to really step up to speak out against this ongoing hate, to take corrective action and truly dedicate themselves to supporting the Jewish community during this difficult time," he said.
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He's calling on the city's newly-elected leaders to take action.
"It would go a long way to hear from the incoming mayor and the incoming DA here in Alameda that antisemitism and all forms have hatred, have no place here in Oakland and Alameda County period," Mintzer said.
