Democratic lawmaker's Brooklyn office vandalized amid pro-Palestine protests
![Democratic lawmaker's Brooklyn office vandalized amid pro-Palestine protests](https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/goldmandan_073123tc01_w.jpg?w=900)
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said his New York City district office was vandalized and defaced with pro-Palestinian slogans.
“Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza live” along with the phrase, “Blood on ur hands” were spray-painted on the Jewish congressman’s office exterior.
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Goldman spokesperson Simone Kanter released a statement Friday.
“Harassing, intimidating, and outright attacking the staff of a Jewish elected official at a time of rising violence and rampant antisemitism is dangerous and unacceptable,” the statement said.
The Hill has reached out to Goldman’s office for further comment.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency said that the New York Police Department is investigating the incident and that officers were responding to graffiti elsewhere when they found the vandalism. A Goldman staff member arrived at the office around. 8:50 a.m. Friday and found police already on the scene.
Security footage showed at least two people defacing the building, but they put a plastic bag over the camera, so the images are unclear, his office said.
Goldman was visiting Israel with his family when the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel and began the weeks-long growing conflict.
“Our experience, of course, was traumatic, but it is nothing compared to so many Israelis down in the south with barbarianism that we have not seen,” Goldman said on the Today show last month.
The vandalism is not an isolated incident. Local offices and Washington, D.C. offices for several other congress members have been vandalized amid the heightened] tensions stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.