Authorities in Sunny Isles Beach are on the hunt for a woman caught on surveillance footage vandalizing a menorah at the Chabad Lubavitch of Sunny Isles Beach, a new notch in the belt of anti-Semitic acts plaguing South Florida. The video, secured in the wee hours of Saturday, shows the woman industriously pushing the menorah until it succumbs to her force, NBC Miami reported.
Shortly after the desecration of this sacred religious symbol, the ravaging continued, she emblazoned a bus shelter with the words "God hates Jews" but not without a decent fight with the menorah first, "Definitely was intentional and she meant to do it," Police Chief Edward Santiago told Local 10 News, adding, “She put a lot of work into it to destroy it.” The identity of the woman is still unknown, and the Sunny Isles Beach police department is urging anyone with information to come forward as hate crime charges are swinging in the balance.
This string of targeted aggressions doesn't start nor end at the synagogue's doorstep; just a day before the menorah tumbling, hate was hurled from a vehicle in Surfside—soda cans and water cups became projectiles aimed at Orthodox Jewish pedestrians. The back-to-back incidents slot into a grim mosaic of rising anti-Semitism—a national cancer according to Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who has spotlighted the sobering surge in incidents, with more than 8,800 reports just last year signaling a steep 140% increase year-over-year and climbing, an alarming 321% from five years past, said NBC Miami.
Recognitions and tip-offs are the plea from the police who are determined not to stand for this brand of virulent intolerance, “We take this very seriously, We are not going to tolerate any religious intolerance,” Chief Santiago asserted, emphasizing the grave nature of the crime, as reports surfaced linking the bulk of these incidents to the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Witnesses or those with knowledge of the perpetrator in the video are implored to reach out to the Sunny Isles Beach police or Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS, as per Local 10 News.
