It seems the thing to do lately for anti Semitic’s is to gouge symbols like swastikas and KKK into golf course greens.
I read an article this morning about a man arrested in Huntingdale for carving a swastika into a green at Wilson Lake Golf Course, as well as some other damage around the place. 33-year-old Ramesh Goonesekere's morning of bad decisions caused about $600.00 damage.
A golf course worker saw Ramesh letting off steam around the course and called the police. They arrested him as he was walking down the road. A police dog confirmed Goonesekere's identity and he was charged with criminal mischief.
The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement later took Ramesh into custody. Due to the nature of the symbol at the scene of the damaged green, the Attorney General’s Office will be asked to review the case as a possible hate crime. Ramesh also clearly hates golf courses.
A similar case was reported in Melbourne Australia, when vandals carved a large swastika and KKK into the green of a historic Jewish golf club on Cranbourne’s fourth green on the first night of the Jewish New Year.
Jewish golfers founded the club in 1954 after they were excluded from other golf clubs, and general manager Sean Constable said members were distressed by the latest attack. "It certainly upset some of our members, but hopefully it was just local kids who have nothing better to do," he said. "It's not the first time. We have had big swastika done on the greens in the mid-1990s and we had to replace a whole green." About $4500, vandals at the club have caused damage this year, including another anti-Semitic attack on the 13th green.
B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission Chairperson Michael Lipshutz said there had been an escalation in anti-Semitic violence over the past year. "It is increasingly disturbing and worrisome that the level of anti-Semitism in Australia is rising . . . and that this anti-Semitism is manifesting itself by physical attacks on both person and property," Mr Lipshutz said.
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