Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) brought together a group of Jewish House members in response to the vandalism of Jewish homes and businesses in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
“We are horrified by messages in the Pittsburgh area spreading antisemitism, glorifying violence against Jews, and seeking to terrorize the Jewish community,” the statement on Tuesday read regarding the crimes discovered the day before that included targeting the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Chabad of Squirrel Hill, the latter with red “Jews for Palestine” graffiti.
The vandalism on the Jewish Federation’s sign claimed that the organization “funds genocide” and featured the message “[heart] Jews, hate Zionist.” In the neighborhood, vandals defaced multiple “I Stand With Israel” signs.
The legislators said that “the targeting of Squirrel Hill—the site of the Tree of Life synagogue, where the deadliest antisemitic attack in our nation’s history took place in 2018 and where people of all communities came together to mourn with the Jewish community in the aftermath of the attack—is particularly heartbreaking.”
The Jewish political leaders stated that “now is the time for all of us to stand together and make clear that hate crimes, antisemitism, bigotry and appeals to violence have absolutely no place in our society.”
In addition to Wild, those signing the statement included Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), Max Miller (R-Ohio), Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.).
Rabbi Yisroel Altein of Chabad of Squirrel Hill told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “the city has responded, and hopefully, we’ll see a boost in security and safety here. But I think what’s most important is for us to be clear of our moral clarity of what’s right, what’s wrong, good and evil, and not to lose sight of that.”
On Monday, Pennsylvania state Rep. Dan Frankel and state Sen. Jay Costa, both Democrats, also issued a joint statement.
Frankel likened the crimes to “an attack on the values of tolerance, respect and community that we as Pittsburghers hold dear.”
Costa called on “every person to reject all forms of hatred, discrimination, antisemitism and division that threaten to divide us further from each other.”
