WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — 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.
"There's no place for hate in Palm Beach County," Palm Beach County Commission Mayor Gregg Weiss said at Saturday night's event. "We are going to make sure that we stand up to those (who) want to come into our community and spread their hateful messages."
Weiss said one in eight people in Palm Beach County are Jewish, and yet antisemitism seems to be on the rise.
"I can't tell you how much my heart is hurting right now – the anger I have, the anger we share, to condemn what was done in our community," he said.
Also speaking passionately against the acts of hate Saturday night was Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg.
"Our community is better than that. Our community is about tolerance. It's about acceptance. It's about love. It is not about hate," Aronberg said. "It is frustrating for me as state attorney that sometimes the laws are inadequate to deal with a situation like this."
Weiss told WPTV he and other leaders plan to hold a round table Tuesday to discuss creating laws that would keep this kind of incident from happening again.