Miami Beach

Miami Beach Cars Vandalized With Anti-Semitic Messages

On a Jewish holy day of rest, there was unrest in one South Florida community.

A Miami Beach home was the target of hate. One car egged in multiple places and another damaged by cream cheese, with the words "Jew" and "Hamas" smeared on two different areas.

Rachel, who also only wanted to be identified by her first name, said, "We woke up in the morning and the entire Jewish community was out here with the cops. They flagged down the cops for us because we can't call them ourselves because it was the sabbath."

The crime was committed as a tense and violent conflict roars on in the Middle East with both Israel and Hamas firing rockets at each other. Josh and Rachel do not think their family was singled out; their car on the block just happened to be the first one to have a sticker that said Miami Beach Jewish Community Center.

"It was just really frightning to see such an act in Miami Beach," said Rachel.

Josh equated it to terrorism in their back yard, but Rachel wouldn't go that far.

"It's not necessarily terrorism, but it's like a hate crime," Rachel said. "It's clearly racism right here and we thought this is America. It shouldn't be happening to us, but it does."

It is unclear if the attack was motivated because of the crisis. One thing is for sure - this is a first for this family.

"You know, we live in like a prominently jewish neighborhood and weve never experienced such a thing," Rachel said. "We never were hated for being Jewish. We were never looked down upon at all."

The family says it is now thinking about installing security cameras to try to deter this from happening again.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

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