JERUSALEM (JTA) — Graffiti referring to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin as a Nazi was spray-painted on an elementary school in the largely haredi Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.
The graffiti discovered Tuesday night at the Boston Talmud Torah said “Rivlin is a Nazi apostate.” The president had visited the haredi school at the beginning of the school year.
He was criticized for visiting an Ashkenazi school and not a Sephardi Orthodox one, and because the school’s community does not recognize the State of Israel and therefore would not recognize its president.
Late last week, graffiti at a schoolyard in the same city called Rivlin “an idol in the hall,” meaning abomination and impurity at a holy place, Ynet reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the most recent vandalism in a statement Wednesday.
“Writings such as this are worthy of every condemnation and do not belong in public discourse in Israel,” he said.
Police are investigating the incident, which they say involves hate speech.
Rivlin has been criticized in recent days for his address this week at the opening of the Knesset’s winter session in which he criticized the lawmakers for a lack of statesmanship and negating justice and democracy. In his speech Rivlin accused government ministers of promoting efforts to weaken Israel’s supreme court and “silence the free media.”
