Anti-Semitic graffiti has been found on a property belonging to a Jewish congregation just days after swastikas and references to the Ku Klux Klan were spray painted on buildings and cars in a San Antonio neighborhood near an Orthodox synagogue.
San Antonio police said they are investigating the incident and were dispatched to the Conservative synagogue Monday morning for a burglary.
Linda Moad, executive director of the Agudas Achim congregation, told the San Antonio Express-News that a maintenance worker discovered the graffiti on a storage shed belonging to the synagogue. The words “Jew Jew” were painted on the shed and two grills were missing, she said.
This comes just days after about 30 buildings and vehicles were vandalized in a San Antonio neighborhood near Rodfei Sholom, an Orthodox synagogue. The two synagogues are just a few miles apart on the city’s north side.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the recent vandalism “an offensive and disturbing attack on people of all faiths.”
“Religious discrimination has no place in the State of Texas and I have faith that law enforcement spearheading this investigation will redouble their efforts to swiftly bring those responsible to justice,” he said in a statement.
After the initial incident, the FBI announced that it was opening a civil rights investigation and offered a $5,000 award for information leading to the vandals. It has since increased to $11,500 as a result of other donations.
Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro said in a statement last Wednesday that “the ugly vandalism targeting San Antonio’s Jewish community is saddening and disgraceful.”
