A Dallas City Council member said a fence near her home was defaced Saturday, with the words “baby killer” graffitied multiple times on the property.
Cara Mendelsohn, who is Jewish and represents District 12 in Far North Dallas, shared photos of the vandalism — which included a pile of rocks, bricks and “fake dead babies” on the sidewalk outside her house — on social media Sunday.
Upside-down red triangles were also painted on Mendelsohn’s fence. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the inverted red triangle is “a symbol that in certain cases can signify support for violent Palestinian resistance against Israel.”
Mendelsohn on Sunday told The Dallas Morning News she and her family weren’t physically harmed and that the vandalism is under police and FBI investigation.
Dallas police did not immediately respond to an inquiry Sunday on whether they were investigating the incident or if the department has recently seen any similar vandalism elsewhere in the city.
“I’m not able to share information on the investigation at this time,” Mendelsohn said in a text message, adding that a neighbor notified her of the vandalism Saturday morning.
Mendelsohn said demonstrators held a protest near her home in January, and shared an image showing about half-dozen people holding signs in a neighborhood.
”I have tried to keep it out of the media, with consideration for my family. However, it has risen to a level that it is important for the community to understand the pervasiveness of these actions, in Dallas and across the world,” her text message stated.
Mendelsohn reacted to the incident in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
She told The News she grew up in Dallas and has lived in the city most of her life. While antisemitism has always been present, she said, she never feared for her safety until recent months after the October attack on Israel. She said she has received a death threat and her staff has received threats in recent months.
Tensions have been high at some recent Dallas City Council meetings, with protesters in attendance as the council discussed resolutions tied to the Israel-Hamas war.
City Council approved a resolution in October supporting Israel amid its war with militant group Hamas, but that move drew criticism from the local Palestinian community, which has called on the city to also publicly recognize Palestinian children and other vulnerable civilians in Gaza being killed in the conflict, The News reported.
When council was called on to pass a resolution supporting cease-fire in Gaza last month, dozens of protesters chanted “Free free Palestine” and “Cease-fire now” as they walked out of chambers following the public comment portion of the meeting.
A Dallas cease-fire resolution had not been formally proposed as of the January meeting.
The Oak Cliff Advocate reported that she called the issue “so personal” during the October council meeting and wears a lapel pin of Texas and Israeli flags flying together during the meetings.
The Associated Press reported last week that Israel and Hamas are discussing a deal that would “bring about a cease-fire in the four-month-old war in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages still held there and the freeing of many Palestinians from Israeli prisons.”
