MILWAUKEE – The case against Zechariah and Peter Mehler, accused of removing a swastika mural from private property, is headed for trial.
At a Jan. 14 preliminary hearing, the case was referred to trial. The men are charged with criminal damage to property, as a felony. A trial date has not yet been set, as of Chronicle press time.
The trial is to be a test of how the court system responds to the forced removal of free expression when it’s laced with apparent hate. The mural, featuring a swastika and Star of David, was on a building owned by a Palestinian real estate businessman named Ihsan Atta, who has been active locally in anti-Israel activities.
The swastika was paired with apparent images of the conflict in Gaza, with the words, “The irony of becoming what you once hated.” It appears tied to a narrative that Israel has committed genocide, though scholars have made the case that death in war, however horrific, is not necessarily genocide. Also, some have pointed out that a large swastika affixed to the side of a building on the streets of Milwaukee is inherently antisemitic.
With antisemitism on the rise, the Mehers – 42-year-old Zechariah, an activist for animal welfare in Israel, and his father, Peter, a 73-year-old rabbi who was once a synagogue spiritual leader in Sheboygan – allegedly tore down the mural.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Zechariah didn’t deny doing it, and there’s reportedly video of the vigilante vandalism, but in the eyes of the law the men are innocent until proven guilty. They allegedly used tools to tear down a vinyl sheet with the mural on it.
Zechariah, who is nicknamed simply “Zee,” sees himself as a thorough Milwaukeean.
“I grew up a little on the West Side, a little in the North Shore, up in Fox Point and then a little on the East Side,” he said. “My grandparents, my mother’s family, is originally from the West Side, but everyone was at the time.”
He said that as a longtime Milwaukeean, when he heard about the mural, he found it abhorrent. He went to look at it and young Jews who also stopped to look were told they were “Zionist pigs,” and “murderers,” he said.
“So that was kind of my intro to the whole thing. And I’m like, wow, this is, this is more than just offensive. This is dangerous. That’s kind of how I became involved.”
He added his thoughts on the Jewish experience in America: “We are in a totally different kind of world right now.” The mural and rhetoric, he said, is an effort to “try and radicalize people and put this idea in their head that we’re monsters.”
Zechariah said the court case has been stressful, but certainly no more stressful than what others are contending with in Israel. He has not been intimidated by the experience, and he said he’s even been accused of threatening Atta. “At the first hearing, I’m not going to lie …. I was being antagonistic to him. I was totally antagonizing,” Zechariah said, offering examples like “oh, buddy, you know, you say so much online all the time,” and, “Can we get a selfie, buddy? Dude, let’s get a selfie.”
The vandalized mural was affixed to a building on Holton Street, in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.
Loading ...