Vandals attack Jewish sites on both U.S. coasts

SACRAMENTO, California (WJC)–Anti-Semitic messages and symbols have been painted on a synagogue in California. Tuesday’s attack on Congregation Beth Shalom, in the Sacramento area, included a swastika, the phrase “Kristallnacht still lives” and the symbol of the SS, which ran the Nazi death camps. Bushes lining the outside of the synagogue building were also set afire. The vandal was captured on a surveillance video camera.

Congregation Beth Shalom was one of three Sacramento-area synagogues targeted by two arsonists in 1999. Benjamin Matthew Williams, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, and his brother, James Tyler Williams, pleaded guilty in September 2001 to setting the fires, which caused almost US$ 3 million in damages. They were sentenced to 30 years and 21 years and three months, respectively, in jail.

Meanwhile, a Florida Jewish community center was vandalized on Monday. Swastikas and the phrase “Jews shall die” were painted on the Soref Jewish Community Center in Coral Springs. Also Monday, a heavy object was heaved through the window of a Lubavitch education center in Miami Beach, the ‘Miami Herald’ reported. The vandalism appeared to be a random act, a police spokesman said.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress