Petah Tikva synagogue desecrated

Worshipers at the 100-year-old Great Synagogue in Petah Tikva saw the graffiti outside the building when they arrived at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to open it for morning prayers. A worse shock, however, awaited them when they opened the historic building’s doors. Swastikas and satanic graffiti were scrawled throughout the interior, with particular attention devoted to the ark, where Nazi-themed graffiti were drawn on the doors and on the Torah scrolls, which had been thrown to the floor.

“Hitler” had been written across the synagogue’s doors, every Jewish symbol was blotted out with spray paint, and “Rammstein” – the name of a German black metal band frequently associated with neo-Nazi punk youth – was written on the floor alongside a satanic symbol. Hours after the attack, Petah Tikva police refrained from ascribing the attack to local neo-Nazis. Petah Tikva police chief Lt. Cmdr. Motti Feldman said that police were “checking all the possible angles of the case.” He noted that, a few months earlier, a smaller synagogue in the city had also been vandalized. Feldman said that police investigators were not yet certain whether the two incidents were connected but said that police were, in any case, investigating the vandalism as a criminal incident. It would not be the first such occurrence in Petah Tikva. In 2004, a series of violent attacks against local haredim during Sukkot led to the arrest of three 16-year-olds, who were indicted. Since then, Feldman said, there had been no violent anti-Semitic or anti-haredi attacks.