Bored teens deface Ra’anana synagogue with bloody swastikas

Two Jewish teenagers were arrested Tuesday for defacing a Ra’anana synagogue with anti-Semitic graffiti and vandalizing the building over the weekend.

The two allegedly tore mezuzas off the doorways of the Ahavat Reim Synagogue in the city. Mezuzas are pieces of parchment containing Biblical verses inside decorative cases that are affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes and businesses. The alleged vandals, who are Jewish, painted crosses and swastikas on the parchment pieces in their own blood and plastered the desecrated parchment on the walls of the synagogue building.

Nearby residents told Kfar Saba police, who were investigating the incident, that close to a dozen mezuzas from their apartment buildings had also gone missing that day, and reported seeing the two 17-year-olds in the neighborhood at the time.

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The suspects, both Ra’anana residents, told police they had acted our of boredom.

Kfar Saba’s police chief called the incident a “heinous desecration of religious symbols” and said authorities were treating the incident with utmost seriousness.