Owner is vocal supporter of Israel and critic of Town Meeting ‘anti-apartheid’ resolution

By Guy Page

The Vermont State Police are investigating possible hate crimes after anti-Israel graffiti was spray-painted on a Jewish-owned Windsor County business early Wednesday morning.

Police said troopers from the Westminster Barracks responded at about 4:50 a.m. May 20 to DG Bodyworks in Cavendish after receiving a report of vandalism.

Investigators reviewed security footage and determined that at about 1:55 a.m., an individual used purple spray paint to write messages on the business’s two front windows. According to police, one message stated “Free Palestine,” while the other included a profanity directed at Israel.

DG Bodyworks owner Denise Gebroe, a licensed massage therapist and personal trainer, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and critic of anti-Israel initiatives in Vermont. She was featured earlier this year on a CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) video report about her opposition to the anti-Israel resolutions at Town Meeting this March. Gebroe is also a top contributor to the Vermont Friends of Israel blog. Her May 4 letter in the Valley News, takes to task the Windsor County town of Hartford for its Town Meeting resolution condemning Israel as an apartheid state:

“Hartford recently declared itself an ‘apartheid-free community,’ targeting Israel with a symbolic boycott pledge on Town Meeting Day,” Gebroe wrote.  “The optics are hard to ignore; a small, overwhelmingly white New England town choosing the world’s only Jewish state as the focus of its moral condemnation.”

Gebroe then compared Hartford to infamously antisemitic nations.

“That puts Hartford in the company of movements that became myopically obsessed with the tiny Jewish minority, including medieval England, the Spanish Inquisition, Tsarist Russia, and of course, Nazi Germany. This rarely ages well.”

A photo of the exterior of DG Bodyworks, as seen in the CBN report, shows Israeli flags hanging in the windows.

Hartford, Bristol, Underhill, Vershire, and Hardwick all passed anti-Israel resolutions. 

The case is being investigated as unlawful mischief and possible hate crimes. State police said they will notify the Vermont Attorney General’s Office through the state’s Bias Incident Reporting System.

No suspects had been identified as of Wednesday afternoon. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Vermont State Police Westminster Barracks at 802-722-4600.