Chicago synagogue vandalized

By · April 6, 2007

Anti-Israel graffiti was painted on a Chicago synagogue on the eve of Passover. Vandals spray-painted several areas of the Conservative Ner Tamid Ha-Bonim Synagogue on the city’s north side last Saturday night, Michael Kotzin, executive vice president of the Jewish United Fund Federation of Chicago, told JTA. The synagogue has a “For Sale” sign up, on which vandals painted “F–k Israel.” They also wrote “Death to Israel” on JUF placards on the side of the synagogue. On the front of the synagogue, they painted “Free Palestine” in English and, in Arabic, “This is how Israel would be spelled if we were in charge,” said Kotzin, who attended the synagogue in his youth. “It should be seen in the framework of the new anti-Semitism, which is connected to anti-Israel hostility,” he said. “It’s a political act taken out on a synagogue.” Chicago’s office of The Council on American-Islamic relations condemned the vandalism.