An Arizona physician and his spouse, a onetime Republican activist, have been amongst three arrested on Friday for allegedly scratching derogatory phrases onto 16 automobiles that belonged to demonstrators who attended a pro-Palestine protest in January.
Matthew Karlovsky and his spouse, Lisa Karlovsky, have been charged with felony injury for keying the automobiles, alongside Bryan Lengthy, in keeping with a press launch by the Phoenix Police Division.
Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance
The incident happened on Jan. 28 at a pro-Palestinian protest held close to a synagogue, the place a fundraising occasion for the Anti-Defamation League — hosted by its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt — was happening.
Courtroom filings cited by AZ Household alleged that surveillance footage confirmed Matthew Karlovsky appearing as “a lookout” and as he, his spouse and Lengthy drove to the protest, the place the trio had “intent to wreck” protesters’ automobiles, in keeping with the outlet.
Based on a joint assertion made by protest organizers and native Jewish and Palestinian neighborhood members, the demonstrators had gathered in entrance of the synagogue to “increase consciousness of Greenblatt’s go to to Phoenix and to discredit his genocidal message.”
Sophie Levitt, a co-founder of Bafrayung Itst (Liberation Now), a Phoenix-based Jewish group, informed AZ Household the protest itself was peaceable, however tensions rose after those that attended the ADL’s occasion began strolling out of the synagogue.
“They started yelling and disrupting and making obscene gestures, saying inappropriate issues,” Levitt stated.
Organizers stated of their joint assertion that there was heavy police presence throughout and after the protest and officers have been seen “high-fiving, taking pictures with, and fist bumping attendees of the Greenblatt occasion.”
In an electronic mail to JHB on Saturday, Jamil Naser, an organizer with the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance, shared a press release alleging that “police did nothing to forestall the vandalism from taking place regardless of it occurring on the occasion premises.”
As this went on, courtroom filings cited by AZ Household allege, CQ that surveillance footage confirmed Matthew Karlovsky appearing as “a lookout” and as he, his spouse and Lengthy drove to the protest, the place the trio had “intent to wreck” protesters’ automobiles, in keeping with the outlet.
Lengthy allegedly confessed to utilizing a screwdriver to wreck a Subaru and stated he witnessed Lisa Karlovsky injury roughly ten automobiles, in keeping with the information obtained by AZ Household.He additionally stated she was “uncontrolled,” claiming she was “spitting in the direction of the Palestinian supporters whilst they have been strolling again.”
The ADL stated in a press release to AZ Household that it had no involvement within the vandalism and that “any suggestion on the contrary is each incorrect and defamatory.”
The protest organizers stated of their assertion that when demonstrators returned to their automobiles, they discovered “defamatory hate speech” scratched onto their automobile, together with phrases reminiscent of “assassin,” “child killer” and “rapist.”
“Relatively than confront our protest immediately, the perpetrators engraved anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic phrases into a number of protesters’ automobiles,” Naser said within the electronic mail. “This was a hate crime, plain and easy.”
Some automobiles have been additionally etched with the Stars of David.
“What actually caught out to me, as a Jewish particular person, was the utilization of the Star of David — a non secular image for us Jews getting used as a hate image,” Levitt informed AZ Household.
Lisa Karlovsky served as chapter chair of the Arizona Republican Jewish Coalition, in keeping with a 2015 press launch on their web site. Her husband is a health care provider, a neighbor informed AZ Household.
Based on a flyer issued by police, the vandalism brought about about $100,000 in damages.