A local town meeting was interrupted by a hateful outburst on Tuesday when someone reportedly shouted an antisemitic slur, displayed a swastika on their Zoom screen and appeared to give a Nazi salute, according to police who are investigating.
Winthrop town officials are condemning the “Zoombombing” during the Town Council meeting. The unidentified person interrupted the meeting during a discussion about the town’s flag flying policy.
The Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism has been tracking the activities of those responsible - the Goyim Defense League’ or ‘GDL’ for nearly five years and state they vilify Jews with their premeditated hate campaigns.
The individual reportedly used an ethnic slur that’s described by the American Jewish Committee as being used by white supremacists to denigrate Jewish people. The hateful outburst is now the subject of a police investigation.
“During a civic discussion on the flying of flags on town property, an individual seized the meeting to use it as a platform for hate speech and to display symbols of hate, intimidation and nazism,” said Town Council President James Letterie.
“We condemn this act and all acts of hatred in or around our community, and we will always call out and condemn hatred in all its forms,” the council president added. “There is no place for it here in Winthrop.”
Antisemitic incidents have been rising across the country in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.
The town of Winthrop said it’s actively reviewing its public meeting videoconferencing procedures and policies following the Zoom incident.