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A Seattle synagogue was tagged with anti-Israel graffiti. It left the vandalism up to make a point.
(JTA) — A Seattle congregation that was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day left up the message for more than a day as a reminder of the hate that still exists in the world, its rabbi said.
It’s a familiar scene for Temple De Hirsch Sinai, the last major Jewish congregation located in the city’s once-heavily Jewish Capitol Hill neighborhood, just up the hill from its downtown and historic Pike Place Market. The historic Reform synagogue had also been tagged with antisemitic graffiti six years ago.
The synagogue said the latest vandal spray-painted a number of phrases and imagery on Sunday night. The messages were put up in a fenced-off part of the congregation, meaning the perpetrator had to breach synagogue property to leave them, and security cameras captured the act on video.
Among the messages left on the property: a Star of David, the word “apartheid,” a phrase that appears to read “Israel has lied,” and a face with “Im [sic] still here” written underneath.
“It was with great deliberation, great preparation,” Rabbi Daniel Weiner told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “They were very nonchalant and very deliberate about what they were doing. It was timed to be as hurtful as possible.”
The FBI and the local police department are investigating the incident, but Weiner said the temple didn’t clean up the graffiti right away. They wanted to remind the community about the present dangers of antisemitism.
“With people oftentimes downplaying its significance amongst the various ‘isms’ that are out there, I thought it was important to understand, even in deep-blue Seattle, that these feelings, these perspectives, exist,” Weiner said. “And people are willing to act on them in criminal ways.”
Back in 2017, the congregation had been vandalized with graffiti reading “Holocaust is fake history,” employing the dollar sign instead of an “s” as emblematic of a common antisemitic trope linking Jews to the idea of inventing the Holocaust for financial reasons.
Then, too, Weiner made the decision to leave the graffiti up for a day before bringing in local “artistic teens” to cover it with colorful, positive murals. The temple erected a plaque commemorating those murals, which this week’s vandal ripped down — though the murals themselves were left untouched.
Weiner said he doubted the two incidents were perpetrated by the same person. He attributed the 2017 incident, with its invoking of the “fake news” phrase used frequently by former President Donald Trump, as “a more direct reflection of the Pandora’s box that the previous president reflected in our society.” He also doesn’t think the people targeting the temple have any connection to it, but are simply choosing “the most identifiably Jewish institution in the city” to reflect a hatred of Jews and Israel.
What has been clear to the congregation both times, Weiner said, is that the level of support they receive from the local community far outweighs the work of “marginalized haters.”
“We yet again are so incredibly grateful for the immense outpouring of support that confirms for us that the vast majority of people in our community stand with us,” he said.
The synagogue wasn’t the only one to be hit with graffiti on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Greater Synagogue of Barcelona was also targeted with anti-Israel messages this week.
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The post A Seattle synagogue was tagged with anti-Israel graffiti. It left the vandalism up to make a point. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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22 arrested in Amsterdam protest over contentious Hanukkah concert featuring IDF cantor
(JTA) — Dozens of people were arrested on Sunday after protesting outside Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall, where multiple Hanukkah concerts were taking place.
The day’s concert lineup came under scrutiny last month after the concert hall, known as the Concertgebouw, announced that it was canceling a planned Hanukkah concert featuring an Israeli performer over his ties to the Israeli army. Shai Abramson is the chief cantor of the Israel Defense Forces.
After an uproar, the concert hall and Hanukkah concert organizer struck a deal: A public Hanukkah concert would take place on Sunday evening without Abramson on the docket, while smaller, private performances featuring Abramson would take place inside the building earlier in the day.
Pro-Palestinian protesters were not deterred by the detente. Dozens gathered outside the Concertgebouw on Sunday evening, where there was also a large police presence as well as a sizable pro-Israel contingent of demonstrators.
Footage from the scene showed clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police. The Dutch Police said in a statement that the demonstrations had largely “proceeded smoothly,” with 22 arrests on mostly minor charges.
“Police intervened several times to keep the protesters at bay and maintain public order. Riot police used batons,” the statement said. “Protesters also set off several smoke bombs. One police officer sustained minor injuries during the action.”
Amsterdam is home to a strong pro-Palestinian activist movement that has clashed before with police, including during the 2024 student encampments and surrounding a Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer match last year in which Jewish fans were targeted with street violence.
The post 22 arrested in Amsterdam protest over contentious Hanukkah concert featuring IDF cantor appeared first on The Forward.
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Drive-by shooting targets Jewish family’s Hanukkah display, police in California town say
(JTA) — A California home decorated for Hanukkah was targeted Friday night in a drive-by shooting, with police saying the assailants fired what appeared to be an airsoft gun from a car.
During the attack on the home, which had several inflatable Hanukkah decorations in its yard, the assailants drove by in a vehicle and allegedly unloaded 20 shots.
Later, the occupants of the vehicle allegedly shouted “F–ck the Jews” and “Free Palestine, N–ger,” according to an account of the incident posted to X by a resident of the home, Rodgir Cohen.
“Just as a reaction, people just, through ignorance and hate, respond with negativity and violence,” Cohen told CBS News. “For random acts of hate crimes, it’s scary to be in the midst of a victim and it’s scary.”
Cohen told a different local news outlet that he and his son had encountered the alleged assailants in person shortly before the shooting.
The City of Redlands said no injuries or damage was reported, and the weapon used was believed to be an airsoft gun after an investigation found no shell casings and the surveillance video of the incident showed no muzzle flash.
Local officials condemned the incident, which came during the same weekend as a major antisemitic attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney, Australia.
“As our friends in the Jewish community begin their celebration of Hanukkah, several tragic incidents have occurred across the globe, targeting people simply because of their faith,” the City of Redlands wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, Redlands is not immune to these hateful acts, as a local family was targeted because of their festive home decorations celebrating Hanukkah. ”
The incident is currently being investigated as a hate crime, and Redlands Police said they believed the family was targeted because of the Hanukkah decorations. They also said they would provide additional patrols in the area and around local places of worship.
The Los Angeles chapter of the Anti-Defamation League decried the incident. “Last night’s shooting into the home of a Jewish family on Shabbat in Redlands, CA is another dangerous and despicable act of violence impacting the Jewish community in Southern California,” David Englin, the group’s senior regional director, said in a statement. “This cannot be tolerated or accepted as normal.”
Last year, the ADL reported that California had 1,344 antisemitic incidents, the second-highest number of any state besides New York. Of those incidents, 1,000 were antisemitic harassment, while 311 were vandalism and 33 were assault.
Congregation Emanu El, a Reform synagogue in Redlands, wrote on Facebook Sunday that it was in communication with the family, who were past members, as well as with Redlands Police.
“Please know that the safety and well-being of our community remains our highest priority,” wrote Congregation Emanu El President Greg Weissman. “We will continue to stay in close contact with local authorities and share updates as appropriate. Thank you for your care for one another and for our community.”
Cohen is a lecturer in religion at Cal State Fullerton and a former political candidate in Redlands who ran on a tough-on-crime platform. His wife Heftsibah Cohen told a local news outside that she initially thought fireworks were going off before checking a surveillance tape.
“We always know there’s antisemitism and hate and racism out there. It’s always out there,” she said. “But when it comes by your house, it’s that reminder of how real it is.”
The post Drive-by shooting targets Jewish family’s Hanukkah display, police in California town say appeared first on The Forward.
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Alyssa Katz Named Next Editor-in-Chief of the Forward
Alyssa Katz has been named Editor-in-Chief of the Forward, the nation’s most influential and widely-read Jewish publication. The appointment was announced today by Forward Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen. Katz will join the Forward in January 2026.
Katz is an award-winning journalist who has worked at THE CITY since 2019, first as Deputy Editor and currently as Executive Editor. In these roles, she has managed the investigative reporting team while guiding coverage of labor, housing, politics, government and social services. She has led interactive projects and data investigations, including collaborations with ProPublica and the Guardian. Prior to joining THE CITY, she served in editorial roles at the New York Daily News, The Village Voice and other publications.
Katz said, “I am thrilled and inspired to be joining the Forward to provide editorial leadership at this critical moment. In a world that continues to test Jewish safety, identity and values, the Forward celebrates what makes us who we are while taking a critical journalistic eye to our challenges.”
“We’re so proud to welcome Alyssa to the Forward as our next Editor-in-Chief,” said Fishman Feddersen. “She brings formidable journalistic expertise as an editor and reporter, as well as deep experience managing an ambitious nonprofit newsroom. She has produced groundbreaking work that demonstrates courage, accountability and integrity — the same values on which the Forward was founded 128 years ago and upholds today.”
Katz is the author of the 2015 book, The Influence Machine: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life (Spiegel & Grau) and 2009’s Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us (Bloomsbury). She has taught journalism at New York University, Hunter College and Brooklyn College, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and was selected for Columbia University’s Charles H. Revson Fellowship for New York City leaders.
Katz has spent many years as an active lay leader at the East Midwood Jewish Center, a historic synagogue and community center in Brooklyn, NY. She is also involved in research and advocacy for preservation of Jewish historic memory in Warsaw, Poland.
The post Alyssa Katz Named Next Editor-in-Chief of the Forward appeared first on The Forward.