A Phil Hall Op-Ed: There appears to be a malignant trend among the more extreme elements of today’s political “protesters” – they believe they have the inalienable right to disrupt and destroy the commercial property of anyone they don’t like.
This strategy gained momentum after Hamas terrorists brought bloody carnage into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Too many Hamas supporting “protesters” in the US believed (and continue to think) that properties owned by Israelis or American Jews are ripe for vandalism, and since the start of that war there has been a nonstop stream of painted swastikas and other vandalizing defacements on these properties.
These “protesters” have also indulged in physical assaults and intimidation efforts to prevent people from accessing those properties. This is still going on, even though the war in Gaza is over. Last week, a pro-Hamas mob blocked the entrance to the Broadway Comedy Club in New York City to stop people from seeing Israeli comedian Guy Hochman. Last night, some kook repeatedly rammed his car into the Brooklyn headquarters of the Chabad World Headquarters.
You may also recall last year when Elon Musk was actively leading the Department of Government Efficiency to root out bureaucratic waste in the federal government. As a Trump ally, Musk became the enemy of these “protesters,” resulting in multiple attacks on dealerships that sold Tesla electric vehicles. Never mind that these were independently owned franchises – their properties were targeted in arson attacks while the electric vehicles on their lots were vandalized by those who viewed Musk as a Trump tool.
Over the past few days, violent “protesters” took aim at Minneapolis hotels they believed were accommodating ICE agents. On Sunday, the Home2 Suites by Hilton in Minneapolis was attacked by these miscreants who smashed windows and wrote scatological graffiti on the building’s exterior. These characters also threw objects at a Minneapolis Police Department officer and tried to push their way inside, leaving a trail of debris and garbage in the wake of their upheaval.
On Monday, more “protesters” tried to force their way into a suburban Minneapolis hotel because they thought Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino was staying there. According to the Maple Grove Police Department, these intruders “engaged in unlawful behavior” resulting in property damage and objects being thrown at the police.
On Tuesday night, anti-ICE “protesters” stormed the lobby of a Hilton hotel in lower Manhattan because they believed federal agents were staying there. Over 60 were arrested for trespassing on private property. New York City’s Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised the disruption, with a spokesperson issuing a statement claiming that “Mayor Mamdani commends the protesters who exercised their right to protest against ICE today” – clearly, the mayor doesn’t believe the hotel’s owner and staff have a right to conduct business without being assaulted by a mob.
Traditionally, politically motivated vandalism of commercial properties is not unique to one ideology. There is a history of plenty of deranged right-wingers indulging in this stupidity, as well as miscreants who use sociopolitical upheaval to loot and burn (remember 2020 and the “mostly peaceful protests”?). And, of course, there are the nonpartisan idiots who destroy commercial properties without a political agenda – but that’s another story.
Today, things are a bit different. The new attacks on commercial property represent a crude effort from a singular corner of the political world to punish people who do not kowtow to their ideology. To these people, anyone supporting Israel is a Nazi, Elon Musk is a Nazi, and ICE agents are Nazis, and they feel they have a right to disrupt and destroy commercial property because it their way to fight modern Nazism. I suspect these people know nothing about the ultimate destructive assault against properties with the 1938 Kristallnacht, but I think we’d be wasting our time trying to explain to these characters that they are using genuine Nazi behavior to fight people they perceive as Nazis.
Beyond politics, however, is the genuine threat to commercial real estate. We’ve already seen a couple of Minneapolis-area hotels temporarily close out of fear of damage to their premises – we know that bomb threats were made against them.
Going forward, who would want to take on a hotel franchise if there is a genuine risk of a deranged mob trying to blow up the establishment because they don’t like who is staying there? Will landlords refuse to lease properties to companies or people that could be viewed as potential targets to political violence? Will brokers want to represent someone who is Jewish or is a prominent figure in conservative political circles?
While the Constitution guarantees the right to peaceably assemble, it does not guarantee the right to physically or economically destroy someone else’s business. Those who encourage disruptions and destruction of commercial property in the name of political “protest” need to be prosecuted.
And those who engage in such criminal actions should remember the words of someone who made the most extraordinary impact on social justice without resorting to vandalism. Not surprisingly, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had the wisest words of counsel: “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
