(JTA) — Swastikas were painted on the windows and carved into the walls of a new Chabad building in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Paint and plaster also was splashed around the interior of the Molly Blank Jewish Community Center, which is still under construction but nearly completed, the Arizona Daily Sun reported Tuesday.
The vandalism, which included damage to the construction company’s power tools, occurred sometime between Friday afternoon and Monday morning, according to police.
The Flagstaff Police Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime. Nothing was stolen in the break-in.
A police spokesman, Sgt. Charles Hernandez, told the newspaper that multiple people were involved in the attack based on fingerprints and biological evidence.
“This incident is a sad reminder of the discrimination and anti-Semitism that still exists among some people,” Chabad of Flagstaff Rabbi Dovie Shapiro wrote in a statement posted on Facebook. “While it’s alarming and very disturbing, it will not deter us – to the contrary this reinforces and motivates us more to do the important work we’re doing and continue teaching about unity and acceptance.”
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