COLUMBUS (AP) – Masked anti Israel demonstrators intensified their harassment of a Jewish Congressman on the eve Monday’s anniversary attack of the Oct. 7, pitching an encampment in front of Ohio Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman‘s Cincinnati home.
Landsman stated Monday that the protesters had arrived outside his house early Sunday morning. The protesters set up tents, sleeping bags, and cots in the road by evening and harassed him and his family for the rest of the night, Landsman said.
In a statement, Landsman said that “on the eve one-year anniversary, these people came into the home of a Jewish Family at night, dressed all in black and fully masked,” Landsman stated. He said he and his child would have to navigate the encampment to attend a service on Oct. 7 later Monday.
Midwest Direct Action 4 Pali! shared a video from the demonstration on Instagram. The video showed black-masked participants marching in front of Landsman’s house. They carried white bundles which resembled shrouded corpses and held banners with numbers representing the death toll. Landman’s Office said the group remained at the site on Monday.
In a post, the group stated that “on the eve the one-year anniversary of the start of the genocide against Palestine, local activists from Cincinnati gathered outside Congressman Greg Landsman’s house to denounce the votes he made to conceal the death count and continue funding mass killing in Gaza.” “We mark with solemn vigil our commitment to not rest until the genocide in Palestine is over and Palestine has been freed.”
Landsman’s district has been targeted before, but this is not the first. In the first month of the conflict, protestors put up a poster near Landsman’s district office that featured his photo with the phrase “This Ken supports genocide” and other offensive language.
Landsman visited the Covedale Cemetery Complex, Cincinnati, in July, where 176 Jewish gravestones were toppled.