Miami City Commissioner David Suarez has confirmed to ARTnews that he paid to send billboard trucks to personally attack pro-Palestinian protest organizers outside the Art Basel Miami Beach fair in December. A filing in Southern Florida District Court from earlier this month had made the accusation, reported the Intercept.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) was one of four groups that organized a rally outside the fair. The trucks called JVP an “extremist group” and called members Alan Levine and his wife, Donna Nevel, “Jew haters.”
The groups were calling for a boycott over financial ties between Swiss bank UBS, which sponsors Art Basel, and Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
“Before everyone begins the predictable gymnastics routine where antisemitism gets rebranded as ‘expressive freedom,’ let me preempt it: They absolutely have the right to speak, protest, and express themselves any way the Constitution allows. And so do I,” said Suarez in an email to ARTnews.
“I will defend their legal right to say things I believe are evil, antisemitic, and disgusting,” said Suarez. “But free speech is not a one-way street. It does not mean they get to silence everyone who disagrees with them. If they want to bring their message into the public square, they shouldn’t be surprised when others bring a response into the public square as well….even if that response is on wheels. I funded this myself and I will never back down from exposing antisemitism or any other hate, and neither should you.”
Demonstrations have been organized at each edition of the fair since 2023. Protestor Cristina Rivera, an artist and technologist, told ARTnews in 2024 that organizers were using Art Basel, a major tourist attraction, as a platform to amplify concerns about Israel’s war in Gaza. The organizers oppose Miami Beach’s investment in Israel Bonds, which the city had doubled to $20 million the previous year. In 2023, the protesters also gathered outside the fair, calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Evidence filed with the lawsuit includes an invoice from Mobile Billboards of Miami to Suarez for $4,000 for the rental of three trucks and an message to a Gmail address allegedly belonging to Suarez.
“The Commissioner has targeted me and called me a Jew hater because I differ with his views on Israel,” Nevel told Intercept. “When we saw the billboards, we didn’t know Commissioner Suarez was the one who created and paid for them, but having watched his destructive, taunting behavior in City Commission meetings over and over again, I can’t say I was shocked to learn it was him—though, even for him, it was extreme.”
“As a jew, I can spot a jew hater a mile away,” Suarez told the Intercept in an email.
JVP is suing the city over an ordinance it claims was passed to discourage its protests. This month’s suit asks that Suarez, Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner, and other officials be compelled to produce documents related to that case, reports Intercept.
