Seattle synagogue vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti
“Holocaust is fake history!” spray painted on synagogue in Seattle. Police searching for suspects.
Police in Seattle are searching for suspects after one of the city’s largest synagogues was vandalized with Holocaust denial graffiti.
The message read “Holocaust is fake history!” with the letter “S” replaced by a dollar sign. It was discovered on Friday at the Temple De Hirsch.
“There were two things we felt: shock and sadness, and resistance,” Senior Rabbi Daniel Weiner, of Temple De Hirsch Sinai, told NBC News. “We were shocked that this had reached our own community and that such things, such stereotypes had become frequent. But we are also adamant to not give in to the intolerance and growing climate of hate in Seattle and our nation, and will resist.”
He added said that a Seattle police officer who was walking off-duty in the area spotted the message at 5:00 a.m. Friday and immediately contacted the synagogue and opened an investigation.
Police have increased their patrols and the case has now moved to the Seattle Police Department’s bias crimes unit as the search for suspects continues, according to NBC News.
The incident comes amid a wave of anti-Semitic incidents throughout the United States, most notably in the form of bomb threats to Jewish community centers.
The Anti-Defamation League says 148 threats targeting Jewish institutions have been received across the country since January.
On Thursday, a Jewish children’s museum in Brooklyn was evacuated for a few hours after police investigated an emailed bomb threat.
On Wednesday, bomb threats were emailed to four Jewish community centers in Colorado, Delaware, Connecticut, and western Canada.
Those emails came a day after a wave of threats targeted 16 Jewish institutions.
The threats to the JCCs continue even after the FBI last week arrested a man in St Louis suspected of being behind at least eight of more than 100 threats made in recent weeks to Jewish schools, community centers and other institutions.
In addition to the bomb threats, several Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized, including in Rochester, New York; Philadelphia; and St. Louis.
