A Green Party congressional candidate in Wisconsin was arrested Thursday after a video captured him shouting profanities at an Israeli father whose young son was in the car.
Matthew Arndt, 54, who is running for Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct with a hate crime enhancer following the confrontation in Mequon, a Milwaukee suburb. Police said he made profane and antisemitic statements toward another driver, according to FOX6 News.
The confrontation occurred around 8:50 a.m. Thursday at a Mobil gas station near Mequon and Wauwatosa roads, according to local police. Investigators said the encounter began on Mequon Road and involved obscene gestures and dangerous driving. Both men then pulled into the gas station parking lot, where Arndt was recorded repeatedly cursing at the other driver and denouncing Israel.
“You’re a f*cking piece of s! You’re a f*cking traitor!” Arndt says in the footage. “You’re a f*cking Israel f*cking traitor! F*ck you! F*ck Israel! Go f*ck yourself!”
Arndt also tells the man to post the video on social media, announcing that he is running for Congress in Wisconsin’s 6th District. He repeatedly shouts, “Free Palestine,” and says, “The whole country’s against you, you piece of s—.”
The man filming the confrontation said he believed a bumper sticker on his vehicle reading “F*ck Hamas,” accompanied by an Israeli flag, had prompted the encounter. He said he was driving his young son to school when the other driver began making obscene gestures and attempting to push him out of his lane.
The father, an Israeli immigrant who has lived in the United States for approximately 12 years, said he followed Arndt into the gas station parking lot and recorded the confrontation. His son was in the back seat during the encounter.
“I have nothing against the Palestinians,” the father told the New York Post. “I definitely have an issue with an organization that wants the Jews dead.”
Arndt later spoke with FOX6 News and argued that his comments were directed at Israel rather than Jewish people. “I am not anti-anyone. I am anti-Israel, and I am anti the Israel government,” he told the outlet.
Asked about repeatedly cursing at the other driver, Arndt said he had spoken that way to people during other altercations and said the man had followed him to the gas station. He also apologized for his behavior, saying he had “messed up,” while maintaining that “the message stands.”
The Wisconsin Green Party, which says it “stands firmly for Palestinian human rights” and ending U.S. support for the war in Gaza, criticized his behavior. “Shouting obscenities at someone in a parking lot doesn’t advance that cause,” the party’s coordinating council said in a statement. The party said it had spoken with Arndt and would wait for the police report before commenting further.
Brad Smith, the Democratic candidate competing for the same congressional seat, also criticized Arndt’s conduct, calling the language used in the presence of a child unacceptable.
Arndt’s campaign platform calls for breaking up monopolies, establishing Medicare for All, and ending U.S. support for Israel. His campaign website also promotes religious tolerance, stating that America belongs to people of all faiths and that politics that teaches people to hate one another is “poison.”
Police said investigative reports would be forwarded to the Ozaukee County District Attorney’s Office for a charging review.
The incident occurred one day after the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed approximately 1,200 people and precipitated the war in Gaza.
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