WEST PALM BEACH (VINnews) — Sheriff’s deputies removed six people from a Palm Beach County Commission meeting Tuesday after supporters and opponents of the county’s more than $1 billion stake in Israel Bonds shouted and swore at one another inside the chamber.
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The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office had deputies posted both inside and outside the room as the exchange grew heated, the Palm Beach Post reported. The confrontation came less than a month after a Sept. 15 budget hearing was also disrupted by speakers opposed to the county’s bond purchases.
County Mayor Sara Baxter said the commission does not control whether the county buys the bonds. Investment decisions rest with the clerk and comptroller, she said, though the commission must approve purchases that exceed set limits.
Palm Beach County is the largest public-sector investor in Israel Bonds. County Administrator Joe Abruzzo, who previously served as clerk, has defended the portfolio of more than $1 billion as fiscally sound, saying the bonds have returned more than U.S. Treasury bills.
Critics, many of whom identified themselves only by first name, said the investments help finance what they called genocide in Gaza and the Judea-Samaria Region. One speaker called Israel an apartheid state and said commissioners were complicit by allowing the purchases to stand.
Supporters said the bonds are essential to Israel’s security and survival. One speaker, who described Israel as America’s closest ally, condemned the hostility in the room and said the anger and hatred on display were unacceptable.
Deputies stepped in and escorted several people out after the two sides began exchanging profanities.
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