On Tuesday night, vandals dismantled the large public menorah near 12th Street and Lake Merritt Boulevard and threw its pieces into the lake. They also left antisemitic messages and threats on the base, where the menorah had been placed.
The desecration comes amid rising tensions following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s ongoing siege of Gaza. The Bay Area-based Jewish Community Relations Council said in a statement that the vandalism "is just the latest example of rampant antisemitism tearing apart the Bay Area."
But Wednesday night, local groups came together to denounce such hate. Representatives from Jewish Voice for Peace, the International Anti-Zionist Network, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, and other community groups, all spoke out against the desecration, calling for unity in the face of hate.
Cat Brooks, of the Anti-Police Terror Project, spoke at the event:
“We are safer together. The purpose of terror is to divide. The purpose of terror is to silence us. But this is Oakland, and our voice is so loud, that when we uplift it in unity it reverberates across the globe.”
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement that the vandalism was an attack, not just on the Jewish community, but the entire city and its shared values.
Audio from the Lake Merritt event was provided by @modern_mowgli on Instagram.
