Tel Aviv slum dwellers were allegedly responsible for painting swastikas and slogans denouncing Mayor Shlomo Lehat and Ashkenazic Jews in general on the walls of synagogues and homes in the well-to-do neighborhood where Lehat lives last night.
Slogans were also pained on parked cars or scratched into their paintwork and tires were slashed. The vandalism was attributed to the fatal shooting by police last Thursday of a 26 year-old resident of the Salameh quarter, a slum neighborhood south of Tel Aviv. The victim was a member of a large family the police were trying to evict from an abandoned building slated for demolition. He allegedly fired three shots at police officers before he was gunned down.
The Salameh neighborhood council officially dissociated the residents from the acts of vandalism and condemned the perpetrators. They told reporters that “local hotheads” were responsible. Meanwhile, Mayor Lehat was given a special police guard which he stressed, he did not ask for.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
