(JTA) — Graffiti targeting “zionists” and praising Hamas was spray-painted on the preschool wing of a Minneapolis synagogue on Tuesday night, the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman said she was notified by one of Temple Israel’s neighbors about the vandalism. She said her first reaction was outrage and pain.

“This does not solve any problem, and blaming American Jews in Minnesota for what’s happening globally is hate speech, it’s antisemitism. It’s nothing different than that,” she said. “It’s not about political differences. It’s about hate.”

On the building was spray-painted “Watch out Zionists,” “Fuck Zionism,” and “Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas’ code name for the Oct. 7 attack. There were also 14 inverted red triangles spray-painted on the building — a symbol associated with Hamas, which has used it in videos produced by its military wing to signify Israeli targets. The symbol has appeared in other graffiti of Jewish institutions during theIsrael-Hamas war.

Zimmerman said a report has been filed with the Minneapolis Police Department and video footage has been turned over for the investigation. E-mails to the MPD seeking comment were not returned.

Steve Hunegs, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, called the incident “harrowing.”

“It’s targeted and consciously imitating the mass terrorism of Oct. 7,” he said. “It doesn’t get much more antisemitic and violent than that, other than the actual perpetration of the horrific acts.”

Hunegs said the incident represents an escalation of anti-Israel rhetoric.

“We’re seeing that someone would take the time to, in the middle of the night on Oct. 7, to vandalize the synagogue with the most incendiary, venomous message you could possibly find,” he said. The perpetrators, Hunegs said, decided “terrorism against Jews is worthy of celebration, and [they’re] going to take that message to an iconic synagogue in the heart of Minneapolis.”

Zimmerman said that she heard from Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish and has attended services at Temple Israel. He said in a tweet that the vandalism was “a reminder that hate still tries to find a foothold” but that it would not find on in the city.

“People are reaching out and in that, you feel a connection and camaraderie and support,” Zimmerman said. “Which is very helpful, but it doesn’t take away the horror of the message. It does help to not feel so alone.”

Zimmerman said she is a proud Zionist who also wants to see an end to suffering in Gaza — something that she said whoever spray-painted the graffiti did not understand.

“If you do understand the nuance and the complicated realities of the world and see each other as human, then you don’t do this. It’s disregarding the humanity of others by promoting hate and promulgating hate,” she said. “But it’s not going to stop us from continuing to do our work and to do interfaith work and to move forward in being proud of being Jewish and teaching about Israel and making sure that we work towards peace and towards the mission of being in the city and supporting the city.”

This story originally appeared on TC Jewfolk, an independent publication covering Jewish life in Minneapolis.

The post Minneapolis synagogue targeted with antisemitic, pro-Hamas graffiti on Oct. 7 anniversary appeared first on The Forward.

Perhaps the only local issue to unite Jews and non-Jews, Zionists and anti-Zionists and progressives and conservatives in New York City is a love for the Upper West Side emporium Zabar’s.

Their remarkable unity was on display this week after Saul Zabar, who led his family’s famed grocery store for over seven decades and helped make it a cornerstone of Jewish culture in New York City, died at 97.

“A true New York legend. He gave the city lox, love, and a place to argue over babka,” wrote New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a post on X. “Zabar’s isn’t just a store, it’s a slice of NYC soul. May his memory be a blessing.”

“I grew up going to Zabar’s. So many of my childhood memories center around the best lox in NYC (which is saying something),” tweeted Zohran Mamdani, the progressive who is vying to succeed Adams and who was raised on the Upper West Side. “With Saul Zabar’s passing today, the Upper West Side has lost a legend who turned his parent’s humble store into a culinary institution.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler, who famously toted a Zabar’s bag containing “a babka and the constitution” to an impeachment hearing he was leading in Congress, tweeted, “The UWS and New York City lost one of the greats today. Saul Zabar built an institution that has supplied New Yorkers, including myself, with lox, babka, and whitefish for decades. My condolences to the Zabar family and may his memory be a blessing.”

Born in 1928 to Jewish immigrant parents Louis and Lillian Zabar, who established Zabar’s in 1934 as the smoked fish department of a supermarket, Saul Zabar initially set out to become a doctor.

But those plans were cut short in 1950 when his father died at 49, and Zabar and his brother, Stanley, stepped in to run the store alongside Murray Klein, who joined the store in 1953.

As the grocery’s president and principal owner, Zabar took a hands-on approach to the store’s counters, where the Manhattan storefront serves some 2,000 pounds of smoked fish and 8,000 pounds of coffee each week to roughly 40,000 customers, according to The New York Times.

“Money is not why we do this, not why we’re here seven days a week. It’s a way of life for us. It’s kind of old-fashioned,” Zabar told Edible Manhattan in 2012

Today, the iconic Jewish market features a wide array of classic Ashkenazi foods, from bagels and babka to fish salads, pickles, deli meats, and the family’s signature rugelach. Every year, Zabar’s sells 400,000 pounds of its signature coffee blend.

“Saul’s passing marks the end of an era, but his legacy lives on in every bagel, every slice of smoked fish, every cup of coffee, and every conversation that fills our store each day,” wrote Zabar’s in the post on Instagram announcing his death.

Unlike many of its early contemporaries that closed as classic Jewish fare fell out of favor, Zabar’s has adapted to win new fans. The store made appearance in Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ film “You’ve Got Mail” as well as on “Seinfeld.” This year, for example, the 91-year-old store collaborated with Adidas in a shoe launch to celebrate the U.S. Open and with Nordstrom to pay homage to its loyal Jewish customers.

Zabar died in a hospital after being admitted for a brain bleed, his daughter Ann told the New York Times.

He is survived by his wife, Carole Ann Kishner, who he married in 1968, and his children Ann, Aaron and Rachel Zabar, along with four grandchildren.

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The post Zabar’s devoted fans mourn Saul Zabar, who transformed his family’s Jewish grocery into an NYC institution appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are seen before a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 21, 2024. Photo: Craig Hudson/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Many of Israel’s most vocal critics in the US Congress have been silent following Wednesday night’s announcement that Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire and hostage-release deal to end the war in Gaza.

As of Thursday afternoon, outspoken anti-Israel lawmakers such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), among others, have not released public statements regarding the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The silence is striking as each of these lawmakers has, for at least the past several months, consistently called for a ceasefire while accusing Israel of war crimes or “genocide” in Gaza. 

Under the deal reached on Wednesday, Hamas will release the remaining Israeli hostages it kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, while Israel will withdraw troops in Gaza to a fixed line and free about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange. The agreement, brokered through indirect talks in Egypt with the help of Qatar, Turkey, and other mediators, is slated to take effect once Israel’s government formally ratifies it on Thursday night.

Observers have noted that many questions remain over Gaza’s future and reconstruction, especially regarding the plan’s call for Hamas to disarm and for Gaza to be totally demilitarized. However, leaders around the world cheered the development as a step toward peace.

Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Pressley, and Sanders have all erroneously accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza, claiming that the Jewish state has indiscriminately targeted civilian population centers and inflicted a famine in the beleaguered enclave. Van Hollen has also accused Israel of purposefully withholding food from Palestinian civilians and lying about well-documented claims that Hamas has stolen humanitarian aid. Sanders and Van Hollen have both spearheaded legislation to block offensive weapons transfers from the US to Israel.

However, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), one of the most strident opponents of Israel in Congress, acknowledged the ceasefire deal while simultaneously accusing Israel of “genocide” and calling for Israeli officials to be punished for “war crimes.”

“For the sake of humanity, let’s hope this will be a lasting and permanent ceasefire. While this is a hopeful step, we must demand accountability for every war crime committed during this genocide and continue to call for an end to the occupation,” Omar said in a statement.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the lone congressional Republican to accuse Israel of committing a genocide, also welcomed the news of the ceasefire deal. 

“Thank you, President Trump!!” Greene wrote in response to the announcement.

Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.

Another challenge for Israel has been Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.