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November 6, 2018 10:57 am
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Jewish Deli Truck in Texas Capital Badly Vandalized in Suspected Antisemitic Hate Crime

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Austin entrepreneur Scotty Grossbard’s “Jew Hungry?” food truck was vandalized just days after the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. Photo: Twitter / @dailysoundnfury.

A kosher-style food truck that introduced residents of Austin, Texas, to the delights of pastrami sandwiches, potato latkes and matzo ball soup has been badly vandalized, in what its Jewish owner adamantly insisted was an antisemitic hate crime.

“It was ransacked, glass everywhere,” owner Scotty Grossbard said on Monday, recalling the discovery late last week of his smashed-up food truck, “Jew Hungry?” The truck began serving its New York deli-influenced menu just eight months ago.

“I got upset,” Grossbard told local media outlets. “I started crying. I cried most of the day yesterday.”

Grossbard concluded that the attack was motivated by antisemitism after he discovered anti-Jewish symbols left on the drivers’ seat as an apparent warning. An Iron Cross medal — a German army honor that was eagerly adopted by the Nazis and then abandoned after World War II — had been placed on the seat, alongside a handful of 25-cent coins, invoking the ugly caricature of Jews as congenitally tight-fisted with their money.

“For them to leave that, to me it’s just saying that Jewish people are all about money and that’s all we think about,” Grossbard said.

According to data gathered by the Anti-Defamation League, Austin — traditionally a liberal stronghold — has seen at least 32 reported antisemitic or white supremacist incidents since January 2017. Yet entrepreneur Grossbard remained firm that he would stay in the city. “I’m not going to leave Austin because I was threatened or vandalized or persecuted against,” he said. “I’m not going to let it get to me.”

A GoFundMe page set up by Grossbard to raise $2,000 for repair costs had exceeded its goal by almost fivefold as of Tuesday morning. Grossbard intends to donate the balance  to the families of the victims of the antisemitic massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue on Oct. 27.

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