The Michigan home of US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel was defaced over the weekend with antisemitic graffiti that declared one of the region’s most prominent Jewish politicians a “Nazi.”
“This was scrawled on the fence outside the MI home of @RahmEmanuel,” former Obama chief campaign strategist David Axelrod posted Monday morning on X, sharing an image of the black graffiti that read “NAZIS.”
“It’s despicable. It’s disgusting. It’s just one more flashing red light,” Axelrod raged. “Stop the hate. Stop the antisemitism and Islamophobia. We know where it leads!”
Emanuel — former President Barack Obama’s powerful onetime chief of staff who also served as the mayor of Chicago — was in the Windy City on Sunday when the vandals struck.
He told the Chicago Sun-Times that his “family is very proud of how our friends, neighbors and the community have rallied to our support … in a singular voice in condemning hatred and bigotry.”
He also expressed gratitude to “local law enforcement for their diligence, swiftness and seriousness in which they have addressed the crime.”
In a congressional hearing last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that antisemitism was reaching “historic levels” in the US afterHamas terrorists’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7.
Wray further warned of recent failed attempts by Iran-backed terrorist groups to carry out assassinations of “high-ranking current and former US government officials.”
More than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were slaughtered by Hamas during the invasion — along with 33 US citizens. Roughly 240 civilians, including some Americans, were taken hostage back to the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has since launched airstrikes and a ground assault.
The two sides are reportedly nearing a five-day pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of 70 kidnapped women and children.
The Sun-Times reported that the graffiti at Emanuel’s home was discovered by the head of the homeowners organization in his southwest Michigan residential community.
“A hate crime occurred against one of our neighbors, where an anti-Semitic word was spray-painted on a property,” Gordon Beach Homeowners Association board president Tom McNulty said in a message to residents, according to the Sun-Times.
County police officers have since confirmed there was no further damage to the property or evidence of someone having broken or entered into the home. The graffiti has been removed.
“We in Gordon Beach condemn this hate crime, as well as the national increase in intolerance, bigotry and criminal activity based on hate,” McNulty said.
“Gordon Beach does not tolerate prejudice, bigotry, racism, hatred or violence, and we encourage anyone who has experienced an act of hate to report it to the Berrien County Police.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment Monday, nor did reps for the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office or the Gordon Beach Homeowners Association.
Emanuel served briefly as Obama’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 after having served as an Illinois Democrat from 2003 to 2009 in the US House of Representatives. He was Chicago’s mayor from 2011 to 2019.
He was picked by President Biden to serve as the US ambassador to Japan and confirmed by a Senate vote in 2022.
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