The Kehilat Ra’anan synagogue in Ra’anana was vandalized overnight Wednesday,
when unknown persons shattered six windows – covering two sides of the synagogue
– with stones, and spray-painted a black Star of David below the words “It has
begun” on one of the exterior walls.
Police have opened an investigation
into the incident.
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Mayor Nahum Hofri vehemently condemned the “thuggery”
and stressed that such a deed does not characterize Ra’anana, “a city of
tolerance and exemplary coexistence.”
The city respects all streams of
Judaism, he said.
While not being the first of its kind, this event is
seen by the Reform Movement as a worrisome development.
“This is the
third time in the past year that the synagogue is vandalized,” Rabbi Gilad
Kariv, head of the Reform Movement in Israel, told
The Jerusalem Post on
Thursday.
“In the past we refrained from drawing media attention to such
attacks, which we thought were isolated incidents committed by wild
adolescents.
There were also no security cameras on the site, but that
will probably change now,” Kariv said.