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| Evelyn Garcia, Ex-Palm Beach County DNC representative |
By Rachel Hirshman
A South Florida Democratic National Committee (DNC) representative resigned from her post after her anti-Israel e-mails sparked outrage, BizPac Review reported.
In the e-mails, Evelyn Garcia, a Palm Beach County representative to the DNC and ally of its chair, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, accused Israel of running “mass concentration camps” and committing “crimes against humanity.”
She was also caught advocating for an end to the U.S.-Israel alliance and accusing Israel of perpetrating war crimes.
Garcia, who also serves as a Democratic Executive Committee member and is running to become a member of the Florida State House, quit her post at the DNC following the uproar creating in response to her e-mails.
Though she gave up her DNC position, Garcia said that she still plans to continue her campaign for the House District 88 seat.
As soon as BizPac Review President Jack Furnari’s post on the inflammatory emails went live on Sunday, a number of Democratic leaders across Palm Beach County expressed horror at comments many considered anti-Semitic.
"She's horrible,” said Dan Liftman, legislative aide to U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar. “She could harm the president and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.”
Though Liftman said he’s known about the emails “for a while,” Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel told BPR he saw the emails for the first time Monday morning.
"I strongly disagree with her views, as does every other Democrat I know,” Siegel said. “Evelyn's views are not the views of the Democratic Party, and she recognizes that."
Elmer Klein, president of the Cypress Lakes Democratic Club in West Palm Beach, wondered how long DEC leadership knew about the emails, which he likened to hate speech. “I have heard through the grapevine that they knew,” Klein said.
Marvin Manning, president of Century Village Democratic Club in Boca Raton, said he was told Siegel was made aware of the emails a while ago but did nothing about it.
“It’s quite horrendous,” said Manning, a Jewish World War II veteran whose daughter-in-law is the child of a Holocaust survivor. ”This requires an investigation as to who else was involved in this, and if they are involved in the Democratic Party, then we have to get them out of the party.”
On Monday, Garcia, apologized for her statements, calling them “ugly” and “hurtful,” according to The Palm Beach Post.
