Vandals deface Jerusalem home of Jewish secularist scholar

Police have opened an investigation into the attack. No arrests have been made.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld (right) speaks with Yaron Levy, a commander of the Yasam special patrol unit in Jerusalem (photo credit: SETH J. FRANTZMAN)
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld (right) speaks with Yaron Levy, a commander of the Yasam special patrol unit in Jerusalem
(photo credit: SETH J. FRANTZMAN)
During the early morning hours of Thursday, vandals defaced the home of the leader of a secular Jewish education center in the capital’s German Colony neighborhood, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
Yaakov Maalkin, provost of the International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism based in the capital, discovered biblical verses and a Star of David spray painted in Hebrew on the walls and door of his residence.
“Amalek beast,” a reference to the biblical nation that was an enemy of the Jewish people, was one of the phrases scrawled on Maalkin’s property. A knife was also found at the scene.
Police have opened an investigation into the attack. No arrests have been made.
In another incident, a Border Police officer was lightly wounded by a firebomb Thursday afternoon while attempting to disperse Arab rioters in the Isawiya neighborhood on Mount Scopus.
After receiving intelligence that dozens of Arabs living in the community planned on starting a riot, a team of officers was dispatched to the flashpoint neighborhood.
“Police responded immediately after learning of the planned riot and were attacked by rocks and firebombs when they arrived at the scene,” said Rosenfeld.
“Officers used non-lethal means to disperse the group, and one officer was struck in the leg by a firebomb.”
The unidentified officer was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom paramedics before being transferred to an area hospital in good condition, Rosenfeld said, adding that no arrests were made.