According to CNN , more signs of anti-Semitism are popping up in the United States not even a week after the deadly shooting that killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue. The man responsible for the shooting, Robert Bowers, pleaded not guilty early today.
Early Wednesday morning, “‘F*** Jews’” was discovered on the side of the Beth Jacob Congregation, a synagogue in Irvine, California.
There are no direct suspects, yet; however, “the Irvine Police Department posted a surveillance-camera video of a man in a hoodie spraying the exterior of the synagogue.” The police department is determined to find the perpetrator and to stop any further damage, so more officers will be dispatched “around the city’s Jewish organizations.”
Mayor Don Wagner denounced the graffiti, referencing another instance of anti-Semitism back in October at Irvine Valley College, which involved “swastikas scrawled in the restrooms.”
The mass murder in Pittsburgh, vandalism, and other signs of anti-Semitism stand as reminders that calendar years do not erase hatred within certain people.
In the aftermath of a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, CNN’s @FareedZakaria says there is “an unmistakeable rise of anti-Semitism” in America and decades worth of increasingly “nasty political rhetoric” on both sides of the aisle https://t.co/dYb0lsKOGv pic.twitter.com/v40pbrM9LW
— CNN (@CNN) October 28, 2018
The vandalism outside the Beth Jacob Congregation is not the only vandalism in the United States this week. Swastikas have appeared in Brooklyn Heights, NY; Rochester, NY; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, not too far from where last week’s shooting took place. Public officials and other authority figures have consistently denounced these acts and displays of hatred; however, their continued appearances serve as a darker message.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, “anti-Semitic incidents have been increasing in the US in the last few years.” The shooting in Pittsburgh last week was the culmination of that rise.
Many public officials and politicians believe that these increased acts of hatred, both violent and non-violent, are able to thrive because of the current political climate. Many politicians have denounced these hate-filled actions, but believe that President Trump has fallen short in following suit. He is most commonly criticized for having called the Neo-Nazi protesters in Charlottesville, “very fine people.” Some believe that if President Trump’s rhetoric surrounding discrimination, hate speech, and violence were different, these events would not be taking place.
However, many are convinced that the real blame is on the perpetrators, who are promoting and acting with evil intentions. Local police departments and the state and national governments are working diligently to catch and stop those responsible, so that those that have already acted can be held accountable, and those who plan to can be stopped.