Miami Beach synagogue vandalized

Nazi swastikas and the name of the Islamist movement Hamas are spray-painted in red on the entrance to a Jewish synagogue in Miami Beach, local media report Monday.

The vandalism, which authorities are investigating as a probable hate crime, is discovered by a neighborhood watch patrol where the Torah V’Emunah synagogue is located.

Yona Lunger, a volunteer patrol member, says she did a double-take when she came upon the graffiti.

“I saw this and then I stopped and I said, ‘Wait a minute. What am I seeing here?’ and then I backed up again and I looked again and I immediately sent a text to the two supervisors,” she tells Miami’s Channel 7 news.

Television images show swastikas and the name “Hamas” spray-painted on the synagogue’s columns.

The incident follows another on Saturday in which a Miami Beach family found their cars covered in eggs and the words “Hamas” and “Jew” written on the windows.

“I mean, honestly, it makes you question if it’s safe to walk around wearing your yarmulke, like how safe you really are in America,” says Josh Rosenberg, one of the family’s neighbors.

— AFP