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JCC in Fairfax, Va., vandalized with 19 painted swastikas

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine tweeted that an “insidious rise in hateful actions and anti-Semitism” must be met with “fierce condemnation and an over-abundance of love and unity.”

Swastikas on the Jewish Community Center in Fairfax, Va., in October 2018. Source: Twitter.
Swastikas on the Jewish Community Center in Fairfax, Va., in October 2018. Source: Twitter.

A Jewish Community Center in Fairfax, Va., was vandalized with 19 spray-painted swastikas early Saturday morning.

Building staff noticed the building had been vandalized when they arrived to open the facility at 7 a.m. Security camera footage showed a suspect defacing the center at around 4:30 a.m, and local authorities released photos to the public.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine tweeted that an “insidious rise in hateful actions and anti-Semitism” must be met with “fierce condemnation and an over-abundance of love and unity.”

In 2017, the same JCC was spray-painted with the message “Hitler was right,” swastikas and other Nazi symbolism.

JCC leadership released a statement saying, “as many of us recognize, these acts do not represent the community around the J[CC] or the community in Northern Virginia. The J[CC] as a whole, and particularly through the focused efforts of our Committee for a Just and Caring Community, will continue to participate as a positive force in both the Jewish and wider communities.”

“With antisemitism skyrocketing around the world, this gruesome attack on Argentina’s thriving Jewish community cannot go unanswered,” said Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The security alert follows a series of grenade attacks targeting businesses and homes in central Israel, including Japanika sushi restaurants, amid a suspected crime-family feud.
The U.S. president issued the warning as he prepared to attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members recently killed in the conflict with Iran.
“I think one of the bedrocks of our city is protest,” the New York City mayor said when asked what Palestinian New Yorkers should do when the Israeli prime minister visits New York in September.
Gloria Romero, who is running for lieutenant governor of California, told JNS that after Oct. 7, anti-Israel demonstrations at UCLA cemented her party switch.
“As a Jewish leader and longtime resident of the state of Washington, it’s appalling that the state would permit that sort of incitement to violence against American Jews masquerading as political speech in a state publication,” Robert Spitzer of B’nai B’rith told JNS.