Starbucks, Walgreens in California vandalized in anti-Israel protest
Starbucks and Walgreens locations in Oakland, California, were vandalized during an anti-Israel protest on Thursday.
According to the Oakland Police Department, the demonstration began after 7:30 p.m. near the federal building on Clay Street, FOX 2 KTVU reported. Police say about 30 people were involved.
Demonstrators proceeded to break windows at a Starbucks and Walgreens and damaged an ATM at a Wells Fargo Bank, the department said.
Photos showed spray-painted graffiti on several buildings with messages including "Free Gaza" and "Death 2 Zionism." Another vandal wrote "homeless lives matter."
Additional images obtained by FOX 2 showed smashed windows and glass on an ATM. No arrests were initially reported.
The vandalism occurred about a week after Oakland’s largest menorah was reportedly desecrated on the sixth night of Hanukkah, prompting police to investigate the incident as a possible hate crime.
"I think we’re feeling vulnerable," Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin of Temple Sinai of Oakland told FOX 2. "Sometimes it is difficult for folks to differentiate between what is anti-Israel and what is anti-Jewish, but the desecration of the menorah was pretty clear-cut."
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, RELIGHTS MENORAH AFTER ALLEGED ANTISEMITIC VANDALISM
Oakland activists had organized a pro-Palestine vigil on Thursday evening near Lake Merritt, where speakers condemned the actions of the Israeli military as the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry reports a growing death toll. Israel declared war against Hamas operating out of the Gaza Strip after terror militants attacked southern Israel communities on Oct. 7, reporting beheading and killing babies, raping women and taking hundreds hostage.
Mates-Muchin voiced concern from the Oakland Jewish community about how the rhetoric from the pro-Palestinian vigil divides the city.
"I think the difficult thing is that vigils like this are actually not going to do anything to affect the situation in Israel and in Gaza, but they are going to threaten the relationships that we have among each other here in Oakland," Mates-Muchin told FOX 2. "That’s heartbreaking because I think there’s a lot of good that we could do together."
Earlier this month, an Oakland coffee shop was forced to apologize and later fired employees seen in a video circulating online blocking a Jewish woman from the restroom while making anti-Israel comments.
Mansi Katchuria, a co-organizer of the vigil, defended Thursday's event, but condemned the desecration of the menorah last week.
"We’re tired, and we’re heartbroken, and we’ve been watching a genocide happen in real time," Katchuria said.
"I think that’s horrible," Katchuria added of the menorah. "I think we have seen a rise in both Islamophobia and antisemitism over the past few months, and we unequivocally stand against hate in all its forms."