(JTA) — Anti-Semitic graffiti was found in two areas of Los Angeles in a four-day span.
On March 13, anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic graffiti was found at Palisades Charter High School and on adjacent city property, The Jewish Journal reported. Four days earlier, Adat Shalom, a West Los Angeles Conservative congregation, found the word “Nazi” spray-painted in two places on its outside walls.
The graffiti has been cleaned and removed from all the affected areas.
The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested two teens in the later incident but did not release their names. It has identified a suspect in the first incident but has yet to make an arrest.
“As a grandchild of four survivors of the Shoah, it is shocking and horrifying to see the word ‘Nazi’ painted on the walls of our beloved Adat Shalom Synagogue,” the synagogue’s rabbinic intern, Noa Lebovitz, said in an email, according to the Journal. “At the same time, it is a reminder that hate in general, and anti-Semitism in particular, is still a reality — even in West L.A. in 2016.”
Approximately 300 students participated in a peaceful protest at Palisades Charter High in response to the incident.
Matt Davidson, executive director at Kehillat Israel, a Reconstructionist synagogue near the school, told The Journal that his temple alerted its community about what took place at Palisades Charter via a mass email and has increased its security.
“We’re just going to be extra vigilant, making sure we’re secure and safe here, like we always are,” he said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
