CNN
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A synagogue in Seattle was vandalized with anti-Israel messaging on Sunday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance day, the Seattle Police mentioned in a launch Wednesday.
“This was a coordinated and targeted assault,” mentioned Senior Rabbi Daniel Weiner, of Temple De Hirsch Sinai on Capitol Hill, who believes the timing of the assault was no coincidence.
Footage from the Temple De Hirsch Sinai reveals two people outfitted with backpacks and paint vandalizing the façade of the temple’s outdated sanctuary – which is now gone, leaving an open plaza as an alternative, Weiner informed CNN. Temple leaders are at the moment working with the FBI and Seattle Police Division to seek out the suspects.
Seattle Police launched the video of the 2 suspects in a press release and is requesting the general public’s assist to determine them.
The incident additionally comes days earlier than Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s independence celebration, and fewer than a month earlier than Jewish Heritage Month.
Cameras and fences had been put in six years in the past when one other incident of vandalism occurred across the similar space of the temple. Vandals spraypainted “Holocaust is Pretend Historical past” a number of months after former President Donald Trump took workplace, CNN reported.
The antisemitic graffiti from Sunday was stored up for a number of days earlier than they coated it up, in keeping with Weiner.
“It’s extremely essential that we in the neighborhood bear witness to the truth that not solely do this stuff occur, however there are folks that – not solely do individuals really feel this stuff and have these views, however they’re prepared to criminally act upon them,” he mentioned.
Now, it has been coated with paint and primer to make method for a redemptive mural completed by native teen artists as an effort to sanctify the house, the identical measure that they took six years in the past, mentioned Weiner.
“We’re trying to do this once more as a result of what we’re hoping to do is de facto rework what would in any other case simply be an act of terror,” he mentioned.
One of many silver linings, Weiner says, is the outpouring of help from civic and neighborhood leaders who affirmed that the Jewish neighborhood is accepted and supported in Seattle.
Mayor Bruce Harrel tweeted: “We is not going to tolerate anti-Semitism in Seattle — we should all communicate out in opposition to this disgusting act of violence.”
Whereas different temples within the space have skilled minor incidents, Temple De Hirsch Sinai says they skilled the brunt of Seattle’s antisemitism.
“We’re the biggest, most seen, type of iconic and historic Jewish establishment [in Seattle],” Weiner mentioned. “And definitely essentially the most seen Jewish establishment to stay within the city core of the town.”
The neighborhood is resilient, he mentioned, however their response to the incident is two-fold.
“One is a way of delight and resistance and never wanting those that are doing this stuff to realize their objectives, which is to attempt to silence and intimidate us,” says Weiner. “However the different feeling is that individuals are feeling that that is an uncomfortable affirmation of what we’re studying about and likewise experiencing within the broader tradition, which is a big rise in antisemitism.”
Final yr, Seattle Police reported 33 incidents of bias crimes focused in direction of spiritual teams. Over 75% of these incidents had been focused on the Jewish neighborhood.
Nationally, the Anti-Defamation League reported 3,697 antisemitic incidents all through america in 2022, marking a 36% enhance from 2021. Of these incidents, 589 occurred at Jewish establishments, the group mentioned. In addition they reported that that is the third annual report for hate incidents in 5 years.
“Sadly, [antisemitism] is persisting and I don’t know that [the attack] was met with shock,” Regina Friedland, Director of the American Jewish Committee in Seattle informed CNN. “I feel that many within the Jewish neighborhood need this occasion to not go unnoticed and let individuals see that hatred and the way rather more work we have to do as a neighborhood.”