Some Peninsula Jews were outraged when a Hamas flag flew on a pole outside a San Carlos home for several days earlier this month.
The flag, which hung on a pole above two other flags, first caught the attention of Jewish neighbors on March 9. Beneath it flew the black, white, green and red of the Palestinian flag with text saying “Palestinians Lives Matter,” alongside the image of a raised fist. The bottom flag was white with a blue, green and gold shield that resembles the symbol of a Muslim group in the Balkans.
Photos and a video of the flags whipping in the wind surfaced on social media last week. One Instagram post from the Jew Hate Database account with 129,000 followers noted that members of the public had contacted authorities, including the FBI.
“Open support of a U.S. designated terrorist organization, the perpetrators of the October 7th massacre, is not simply ‘political differences’ or ‘support of Palestine,’” the post stated. “These are violent, Jew-hating jihadists who wish to destroy Israel and the West.”
Gretchen Spiker, director of communications for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, told J. in an email that her office was “aware” of the Hamas flag and had “shared information with federal partners by way of the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center,” an information clearinghouse for public safety concerns.
John Dugan, a San Carlos City Council member, brought the Hamas flag to the attention of the city’s police chief, according to an email exchange with a San Carlos Jewish resident that was shared with J.
Dugan wrote that the display of a terrorism symbol concerned him but was likely legal.
“I appreciate your concern, but we must generally support free speech, and it is a very high bar indeed for local government to remove constitutionally protected private speech taking place on private property,” Dugan wrote to the resident. “I hope and pray for a peaceful resolution and a lowering of tensions all around.”
The day before the three flags were taken down on March 12, two Israel supporters decided to hold signs in front of the home in opposition to the display.
Masha Worthey, 32, and Emma Worthey, 27, sisters who live in San Mateo County, drove to the home after a friend texted about the flags. For about an hour in the evening, they stood on the sidewalk and street, holding handmade signs. “This house supports rape, kidnapping, and murder,” Masha Worthey’s read. Her sister’s read, “Hamas supporters not welcome.”
The sisters, whose mother fled the former Soviet Union and whose grandfather is a Holocaust survivor, have been vocal advocates of Israel at rallies for the hostages and on college campuses across the Bay Area since Oct. 7, 2023.
“I just feel it’s so un-American. It’s against everything we stand for,” Masha Worthey told J. on Monday about the Hamas flag in San Carlos.
“I’m speechless, shocked, and enraged,” she added. “It’s a designated terrorist organization, and this person feels comfortable enough in the current environment to wave this flag proudly?”
As the sisters prepared to end their protest on March 11, a white man wearing a headscarf and tunic stepped outside the home and apparently began to pray, according to a video the Wortheys shared with J. that also appeared in the Jew Hate Database post.
Masha Worthey said she admonished the man for displaying the flag but he did not respond.
“I hope that the neighbors who saw it now know who they live next to,” she said.