Aug. 22, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
Police are investigating the vandalism of a poster memorializing a girl killed in Israel that was hung on the Congregation Sons of Israel at 33-21 Crescent Street.
The poster, hung in honor of 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel, was vandalized last Tuesday, and the replacement poster was later stolen.
According to police, a member of Congregation Sons of Israel was walking up to the synagogue around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday when he saw a white man with a black beard writing on the poster, which was hung on the front door.
He asked the suspect to stop, who then yelled, “Israel is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to my relatives in the Holocaust,” before fleeing.
The synagogue members then put up a replacement sign in honor of Ariel around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and when they returned the next morning it was gone.
“Someone who can vandalize and steal such a sign is not a human being,” Rabbi Jay Shoulson said to JPUpdates.
Ariel was stabbed to death in her sleep by a 17-year-old Palestinian on June 30th in a West Bank settlement, garnering international attention, as it highlighted the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The U.S. State Department tweeted the day of the attack, “We condemn in strongest possible terms the outrageous terrorist attack this morning in West Bank.”
Police are still searching for the suspect.
Calls for comment to the Congregation Sons of Israel went unanswered.
2 Comments
Combination of ignorance and unemployment.
“Can’t we all just get along”.