Gay Jewish Lawmaker’s Apartment Vandalized with Swastikas
Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery Co.), who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the state’s 6th Congressional District race, shared a photo to the social media platform X, depicting swastikas drawn on the lobby door of his apartment building in Gaithersburg.“Swastikas in my apartment building lobby again,” Vogel wrote. “The surge in antisemitism isn’t some distant phenomenon — it’s happening right here in our own community as well.”Swastikas in my apartment building lobby again.The surge in antisemitism isn’t some distant phenomenon— it’s happening right here in our own community as well.
https://t.co/pEcIrqNX6t pic.twitter.com/mNqxtn4uTv— Joe Vogel (@JoeVogel_) October 16, 2023He also quoted a post from September showing another picture of a swastika on the same door.
Vogel told D.C.-based CBS affiliate WUSA9 that the most recent vandalism is the third time the Nazi symbol has been drawn onto or etched into the door frame.“To see it in my own apartment building, in my own community, the place that I call home, is really unsettling,” Vogel told WUSA9.It’s unclear if the vandalism was specifically targeted at Vogel.
However, he told Baltimore-area ABC affiliate WMAR that there is a sizable Jewish community in Montgomery County and in Gaithersburg, noting that similar cases of anti-Semitic graffiti have occurred with disturbing frequency.“That kind of hate.
