Tel Aviv Police are investigating who drew swastikas and Palestinian flags on a synagogue in Jaffa’s mixed Jewish-Arab Ajami neighborhood.
Late Saturday night, unknown assailants vandalized the synagogue, writing the graffiti in charcoal, which was quickly washed off Sunday morning. In addition, someone punctured the tires of a car belonging to a Jewish family that lives next to the synagogue.
The Beit El synagogue is a small single-level building on a small residential street in Ajami, next to the French ambassador’s house and the Arab-Jewish Center of Jaffa. A plaque outside the synagogue refers to it as “Beit-El synagogue for Jews from Turkey.”
The synagogue is not among the new shuls or yeshivas in Jaffa, some of which have sparked tension with some of the long-term residents of the neighborhood.
Sarah Abu-Zaid, an elderly woman living in a house next to the synagogue said that the Jews who worship at Beit El “have been here for over 50 years, they’ve been here as long as I have.”
“We’ve always had good relations with them, this is a strange thing,” she said.
A resident of a house at the end of the cul-de-sac, Ali, said that he believed that the vandals were “just some stupid kids doing stupid things and making a big mess for everyone.”
A Tel Aviv Police spokesman said there were no suspects yet and could not confirm if children or teens were suspected.
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