Mexican War Street resident targeted with antisemitism — again

Deena Blumenfeld spent June 15 the way many people spend a typical Sunday — sitting outside her house talking with neighbors. Blumenfeld and her friends, though, had a more serious purpose than simply sharing conversation, a cold brew or some barbeque passed between the hedges.

For more than two weeks, Blumenfeld’s home security cameras captured the same person walking past her house and spitting on the Israeli flag planted in her yard.

The Mexican War Streets resident said the first incident occurred on May 29 and she witnessed it in person.

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“I watched a guy walk up to my house, spit on my flag and keep walking,” she recalled. “I opened my car door to yell at him — you can hear me yelling on the video, ‘What are you doing, that’s my house.’ He just kept walking and gave me the finger.”
When Blumenfeld asked the perpetrator to stop and talk with her he gave her the finger again and continued on his way.
The spitter continued to make appearances, vandalizing Blumenfeld’s flag at least six more times.

When Blumenfeld’s neighbor saw the man spit on the flag, they yelled at him. Rather than slink away into the darkness, the spitter swore at the neighbor and continued on his way.

Blumenfeld said the perpetrator is intentional in his actions and has no shame.

“He comes from different directions. He comes from up the street, down the street, from the alley next to my house. He did it twice one morning on his walk to the coffee shop,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Blumenfeld has dealt with antisemitism.

A little more than a year ago, the home she shares with her husband was vandalized several times — an Israeli flag was pulled from the ground and thrown in a nearby garbage can, anti-Israel flyers were left at their house, the words “We demand blood,” and “For Blood and Soil” were painted on another flag and the sidewalk outside their house.

Police eventually arrested the person they believe stole her flags but have yet to identify the person or people who painted the graffiti.

The prior acts of antisemitism motivated her to install the enhanced camera that could capture the spitter each time he vandalized her flag.

Recording images of the person, though, doesn’t necessarily make Blumenfeld feel more secure.

“This is obviously stalking and harassment,” she said, “and this is one of the many concerns with his activities. And the police have the same concern.”

Her worry is that the person spitting on her flags could escalate his behavior.

Because of her previous experiences with antisemitism, Blumenfeld knew how to handle the situation and took her concerns to the local police, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and social media, where she documented the vandalism and harassment by the person spitting on her flag.

On June 14, Blumenfeld received a Facebook message from a neighbor voicing their outrage at what had been taking place and offering to sit outside and wait for the spitter in the interest of community safety.

The following day several neighbors took their morning coffee outside, chatted and waited. It didn’t take long before someone matching the look of the spitter was spotted.

“The perpetrator came walking down the alley and turned as if he was coming to my house,” she said. “My friend’s chair was close to the corner, and he saw her and turned on his heel to go the other direction.”

The neighbor yelled “Good morning” and called the perpetrator by name. It turns out that he lives nearby and was known by some of residents of the community.

“He gave her a nasty look. I said come talk to us, but of course he wouldn’t,” Blumenfeld said.

The spitter walked to a nearby coffee shop and then sat in a nearby parklet. He made one more pass near Blumenfeld’s house when he thought no one was there but returned to the coffee shop once he realized people were still watching him.

Blumenfeld called the police while the group fanned out in case the suspect tried to leave.

When a uniformed officer confronted the suspect, he admitted to spitting on the flag and gave his name and address, according to Blumenfeld.

“He called the Israeli flag a hate symbol and said that’s why he did it,” she said.

Because they didn’t catch him in the act of spitting, the officers were unable to arrest the suspect but took a report. Blumenfeld believes he will be arrested soon.

Undeterred in his feelings, Blumenfeld said that as the suspect left the scene, he took the opportunity to give the group the finger one last time.

“He’s so brazen, he doesn’t care,” she said.

Blumenfeld didn’t let his attitude spoil her day, which happened to be her anniversary.

“When it was over we went and had some cookies,” Blumenfeld said. “My husband made some chocolate chip cookies.”

Still, the incidents of the last year have given Blumenfeld, who identifies as liberal on most issues, pause.

“I’m a registered Democrat. I’m a liberal. I do not like what the current Trump administration is doing. I have a No Kings button sitting in my purse, but I couldn’t go to the protests because I didn’t feel safe. I’m on the same page as those people with 90% of the issues but this one thing gets in the way and now we’re stuck and I am not part of the group anymore,” she said.

And that is a hard pill for Blumenfeld to swallow.

“It’s disheartening and depressing,” she said. “I feel guilty I wasn’t downtown on Saturday, but I don’t feel safe and that’s part of the reason my flag is there, because there are Jews in the neighborhood.”

Blumenfeld said some people have advised her to remove the flag or put it in different place. She said that’s akin to asking a girl to wear longer skirts so she won’t be raped.

She’s been lucky, she noted, to have the support of a community that may not agree with her on Israel,but gets it.

“A woman walked past who said, ‘I don’t support what’s going on, but I realized if it was my Pride flag and someone spit on it, I’d want help, too,” Blumenfeld said.

Shawn Brokos, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh community security director, said community support is important.

“It’s the idea of the old-fashioned neighborhood watch where everyone in the community looks out for one another and if they see something suspicious, they share it amongst themselves and the police,” she said.

That power, she said, was shown in this instance.

“That’s how this individual was identified,” Brokos said. “Neighborhood people saw him do it, someone recognized him and that’s what led to the police identification.”

Brokos urged anyone who notices anything suspicious to report it to law enforcement and the Federation. jewishpgh.org/form/incident-report. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.