“Free Gaza” was found marked on incendiary devices used to burn ballot drop boxes in Washington state earlier this week, according to news reports, suggesting for the first time that the arson may have had a political motive.
As Breitbart News reported, hundreds of ballots cast by voters were destroyed in the attack on the ballot drop boxes:
Hundreds of ballots in Washington state were potentially damaged after authorities reported that a Vancouver ballot drop box was burned in a Monday morning arson.
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Hundreds of ballots were inside the box at the time of the fire, though it is not immediately clear how many may have been damaged, Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said.
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Investigators told the local station that the incident is believed to be connected to another drop box arson incident in Portland, Oregon.
ABC News reported Tuesday that “Free Gaza” markings had been found on incendiary devices linked to the fires:
Ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington were set on fire with incendiary devices early Monday in what authorities believe are connected incidents, police said.
The devices used in the arson incidents carried markings with the expression “Free Gaza,” two sources familiar with the ongoing investigation told ABC News.
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The sources said the incendiary device used in the first arson, back on Oct. 8, had “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” on it. The two subsequent devices, set off in the early hours of Monday morning in Vancouver, Washington and nearby Portland, Oregon, carried the slogan “Free Gaza.”
It is unclear whether the devices were meant to convey that message, or to distract from the true motive in the fires.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
