Antisemitic graffiti targeting “zionists” and praising Hamas was spraypainted on Temple Israel’s preschool wing Tuesday night, the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that killed 1,200 and resulted in 250 being taken hostage.
Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman said she was notified by one of Temple Israel’s neighbors of the incident. 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.”
“Fuck Zionism” is spraypainted on the wall of Temple Israel. (Lonny Goldsmith/TC Jewfolk).
On the building was spraypainted “Watch out Zionists,” “Fuck Zionism,” and “Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas’ code name for the Oct. 7 attacks. There were also 14 inverted red triangles spray-painted. According to the American Jewish Committee, the Inverted Red Triangle is “an anti-Israel symbol often weaponized under the guise of ‘Palestinian Resistance’ to identify, harass, and target Israelis and Jews, glorify Hamas’ terror, and call for increased violence against the Jewish people.”
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 the rhetoric that has been seen since shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks.
“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.
“People are reaching out and in that, you feel a connection and camaraderie and support,” she 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 that she is a proud Zionist, but also wants to see an end to suffering in Gaza, which whoever spraypainted the building doesn’t understand, and “doesn’t want to.”
“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,” she said. “It’s disregarding the humanity of others by promoting hate and promulgating hate.
“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.”
I am disgusted by this act against the Jewish community. To my Jewish friends and neighbors, you are not alone.
Thank you for covering the graffiti vandalism on Temple Israel so well. It was a horrendous act.