Jerusalem synagogue found daubed with crosses
Police investigating graffiti spray-painted on outside walls and windows of building
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A Jerusalem synagogue was defaced overnight with crosses graffitied on an outside wall, in a possible hate crime.
Police reported Monday morning that they responded to a report of vandalism on a synagogue on Yossi Ben Yoezer Street in southern Jerusalem.
“Crosses were spray-painted in black on the wall and windows of the synagogue,” police spokesperson Luba Samri said.
A forensic team was called to the scene and detectives opened an investigation into the incident, Samri said.
Police did not indicate any possible motive or suspects for the crime, which mirrored other hate crimes against religious buildings in Israel in recent years.
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Wadie Abunassar, an adviser to the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, condemned the vandalism.
“All peoples should respect each other, especially the others’ holy sites,” he wrote on Facebook.
In August two Jewish girls were caught in Petah Tikva while spraying crosses on a local syngagogue. The two girls, aged 13 and 15 were apprehended by police at the site and taken in for questioning.
In April a synagogue in Safed was defaced with the words “death to Arabs.” On the same day a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Jaffa, though no damage was caused.
In January several buildings in Tel Aviv including a synagogue were spray-painted with a picture of Hitler’s face, and slogans including “Hitler was Jewish,” and “Heilike,” which seems to be a combination of “Heil” and Facebook’s “Like.”
Vandalism against synagogues has also been reported as a result of internecine feuds. In February, a Jewish man was arrested and accused of hanging a pig’s foot at the entrance of an Arad synagogue to protest the takeover of a public shelter for use by an ultra-Orthodox congregation.
Synagogues have also been targets for vandalism in the US and Europe, often drawing condemnation from Jewish groups as anti-Semitic attacks.
Israeli police have fought a concerted campaign in recent years against a wave of anti-Muslim and Christian vandalism carried out by extremist Jews.
In January, two Israeli minors were arrested on suspicion of vandalizing the Dormition Abbey just outside the Old City of Jerusalem with anti-Christian graffiti.
“If we were to actually count all of these incidents, they’d be in the hundreds,” Abunassar said at the time of the anti-Christian attacks.
The Times of Israel Community.