Police yet to identify suspects in vandalism of Reform synagogue in Netanya

Ten days after a Reform synagogue in Netanya was flooded by vandals, police on Wednesday had yet to identify any suspects. “The investigation is still ongoing,” police said in a statement.

On January 27, members of the Natan Ya Congregation arrived at the synagogue in the coastal town to find their sanctuary flooded with roughly 2,500 liters — over half a foot — of water, the temple’s Rabbi Edgar Nof said.

The night before, Nof said, vandals broke through a wire fence that was built because of frequent attacks on the building, destroyed plants in the congregation’s garden, jimmied open the barred window leading into the sanctuary, placed the site’s garden hose through the window and turned it on full blast.

Nof estimated that the water ran for roughly 14 hours until congregants arrived the next morning. The damages are expected to cost Natan Ya roughly NIS 50,000 ($13,838) to fix after the water seeped through the tile floors. Furniture and prayer books were also ruined from the flood.

The rabbi dismissed the possibility that the vandalism was a prank carried out by neighborhood children. “Whoever it was, they watched us and knew exactly when we weren’t going to be there, that we keep the hose in the garden, and how to force open the window,” Nof said. “Kids put up graffiti. This was much more serious.”

Natan Ya is the only Reform synagogue in Netanya and this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Nof said that for the past two-three years, the congregation has been targeted roughly every other month.

The rabbi attributed the increase in attacks to the synagogue’s recent success in attracting members. “We celebrated 72 bar mitzvahs in the past year.”

“The more bar mitzvahs we have, the more attacks seem to increase.”

“Sometimes they throw glass bottles by the stairway. One time they left a dead rat,” Nof recalled. “Sometimes people enter the building during our services and harass women who are wearing a tallit.” In Orthodox Judaism, only male worshipers don such a prayer shawl.

Earlier in January, one of the members was tending to the garden when a man wearing ultra-Orthodox garb spit on her leg. In that incident as well, a police report was filed but no arrests have been made.

Nof said he was disappointed that Netanya’s Mayor Miriam Feirberg had not condemned the attack. “She has never condemned such incidents. She’s in a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox,” the rabbi pointed out.

The Times of Israel reached out to the Netanya municipality for comment Wednesday and the city released a statement condemning the incident.

“The mayor and council members denounce and condemn any case of violence perpetrated against synagogues… We all hope that such horrible acts will not change or damage the delicate fabric that exists among the various communities in the city of Netanya,” the muncipality’s statement said.

Nof took issue with the local officials’ inability to name the religious affiliation of his synagogue. “They only are willing to condemn it generally,” he said.

The same night that Natan Ya was targeted a second incident of vandalism took place in another Netanya synagogue.

Vandals burned Jewish prayer books and graffitied the phrase “Hail Satan” in an attack at the MacDonald International Shul. Police put out a statement regarding the attack, which is what may have led to the larger amount of outcry. On Wednesday, authorities announced that they had arrested a 16-year-old girl suspected of involvement. She was released to house arrest after being interrogated.

No press statements have been released by police regarding the incident at Natan Ya.

Nonetheless, Nof said his community is overwhelmed by the support it has received from hundreds of Netanya residents as well as from people around the world, who called and wrote messages to the synagogue expressing their concern and solidarity. The Natan Ya rabbi said that he had received thousands of dollars in pledges that would be enough to cover the damages caused in the attack.

Nof also said that on the morning after the incident, a group of Orthodox women walking by as the members were examining the flooding stopped to assist in removing the water.