A Jewish business owner in downtown Miami is expressing outrage after his kosher bagel shop was defaced for the fourth time in eight months by vandals targeting his Israeli flags and decor.
Surveillance video shows a hooded individual spray-painting "Free Palestine" on the windows of Holy Bagels & Pizzeria early Thursday morning. The perpetrator also removed an American-Israeli flag hanging outside and tied it around the front door handles.
"It's devastating, disgusting. It makes me angry," owner Josh Nodel told 7News after reviewing the footage. "He took down our 'Stand With Israel' flag and spray painted it as well. Now he hangs it on the door."
The incident marks the latest in a string of vandalisms stretching back to October at Nodel's other Miami-area business, Bagel Time Cafe. Past attacks included slashing pro-Israel signs, ripping down flags, and even stomping on the Israeli banner.
A defiant Nodel said he refuses to back down in the face of what he views as blatant discrimination and attempts to intimidate his support for Israel amid its conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza.
"We won't allow it, we won't allow it. We won't go to the gas chambers like it happened in the Holocaust," Nodel stated firmly. "This is not going to be tolerated."
The kosher restaurant owner, whose passion for the Jewish state is well-known, reported the latest vandalism incident to police. He vowed to double down by putting up even more Israeli flags and decor.
"What happens next? When they hurt us, we put two more flags, three more flags, five flags," Nodel said. "As far as the war, we stand behind it. We've got to do what the mission is, to get the hostages back home."
For Miami's Jewish community, the recurring defacements targeting the beloved bagel shops have fueled concerns over rising anti-Semitism. Local officials condemned the acts as hateful intimidation tactics aimed at silencing pro-Israel voices.
