ATLANTIS, Fla. — South Florida leaders are condemning what they call an act of hate after antisemitic propaganda was found over the weekend in multiple cars and in driveways in Palm Beach County, including in Atlantis.
It's a rising trend and officials are planning to discuss it in a roundtable Tuesday.
"It's just so surprising that somebody feels this way and then that they spew it out to other people," said Patricia Train, who woke up over the weekend to plastic bags filled with anti-Semitic propaganda and wood chips in the front yard of her home in Atlantis.
"I didn't even really read it that much except it said that Jewish people were satanic," Train said.
Atlantis police said they arrested a man after an officer saw him throwing the bags and tried issuing a civil citation for littering.
According to police, that man is Nicholas Bysheim, 33. Police said Bysheim refused to give the officer his identification and was arrested on a charge of resisting an officer.
Palm Beach County Mayor Greg Weiss called it a start in stopping more incidents like this one.
"At least we know this person has been taken off the streets for at least some period of time," Weiss said. "It's not welcome here. We are a very welcoming community, but we don't welcome hate."
Weiss is hosting a roundtable along with other South Florida leaders, including law enforcement, to discuss looking to state legislators about potential new laws to hold these actions accountable. The event is not open to the public.
"Obviously, people have First Amendment rights in this country, but looking for a law that will make it a crime to project something on someone else's property without the owner's permission," Weiss said.
As for the acts of hate, Train said she hopes they will soon go away.
"We are very open to people and it's not that kind of community, so the hate is just horrible, really," Train said.
One week after a swastika was projected onto an AT&T building in downtown West Palm Beach, residents and members of the Jewish faith gathered at the same location to show solidarity against antisemitism Sunday.
Also Sunday, antisemitic propaganda and wood chips were discovered in the morning in the employee parking lot at Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office headquarters, a spokeswoman told WPTV.
Some Boca Raton residents said they received packets with antisemitic messages in their driveways and front yards Jan. 14, the same day the image was projected at the building in West Palm Beach.
