Synagogue Vandalized In Fairfax Amid Protests

LOS ANGELES, CA — A synagogue in the Fairfax District was vandalized with graffiti that read "Free Palestine. F--- Israel," on a day marked by police protests, vandalism and looting in the area.

It happened Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel at 8056 Beverly Blvd., near Crescent Heights Boulevard, according to the Jewish Journal.

"Tell me this ugly hatred is still about #BLM or #GeorgeFloyd?!" Lisa Daftari of the Foreign Desk tweeted, referring to Black Lives Matter and the protests over the in-custody death of a black man in Minneapolis man while he was being arrested by a white police officer.

The Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles condemned the act in a tweet. "Vandalism is never ok. Antisemitism is never ok. The answer to hate and bigotry is not more hate. We are better than this Los Angeles."

Further reaction came from American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut, who told the Journal: "It is deplorable that certain protesters in Los Angeles today resorted to violence and vandalism. Sadly, their destructive opportunism included the defacing of Congregation Beth Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in Los Angeles and the spiritual home to many Holocaust survivors over the years. The epithets scrawled on the synagogue wall do nothing to advance the cause of peace or justice, here or abroad."

—City News Service