Beverly Hills police are investigating a hate crime after an anti-Semitic message was spray-painted on a Holocaust survivor’s apartment building in the aftermath of the terror attack on Israel.
Police are looking for the person who left the message ‘dead Jews’ and believe the same person sprayed similar messages throughout the city.
The anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered Wednesday outside the Bedford Manor apartment complex in Beverly Hills, California, a home where 60 percent of the tenants are Jewish.
Klara Firestone, the building’s manager, said: “It’s just terribly emotional and it’s scary to know that it’s happening in my own home – literally in my own home,” in an interview with ABC7.
“People who don’t like Jews don’t care if you’re old, young or a grandmother,” Firestone said. “They don’t care.”
Firestone lives in the building with her 99-year-old mother, Renee Firestone, who survived the Holocaust and moved to the U.S. in 1948.
Klara Firestone (pictured) lives in the building with her 99-year-old mother, Renee Firestone, who survived the Holocaust and moved to the US in 1948
A message reading “kill Jews” was left outside a Holocaust survivor’s building in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday
About 60 percent of the tenants in the Beverly Hills building are Jewish, the manager said
Firestone’s grandmother died in Auschwitz after being sent straight to the gas chambers.
“I wear a Jewish star and I don’t worry about who I am and what I am,” Firestone said CBS News.
Beverly Hill police received the other report of vandalism later that day, a mile from the apartment.
“The suspect(s) in both cases appear to be related based on the verbiage, style and color of the spray paint,” police said in a statement.
Anti-Semitic messages were left in large green letters on the walls as police searched the area for clues.
Both incidents are being investigated as hate crimes, police said.
Workers have since painted over the anti-Semitic message on the Holocaust survivor’s building.
A family photo shared by Firestone shows three dozen people at a wedding before the Holocaust. Almost all of them were killed
Workers painted over the anti-Semitic message on the Holocaust survivor’s building starting Thursday
Anti-Semitic messages were left in large green letters on the walls as police searched the area for clues
Firestone and her neighbors are devastated after seeing the graffiti, two weeks after the terrorist attack claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Israelis.
“When a person hates you, it always hurts,” Firestone said. “Hate me for something I did, not for who I am, because I can’t change that.”
She said she would not show the anti-Semitic message to her mother and said “fortunately she is not as aware as she could be” of what is happening around the world.
“That’s really what bothers us: that the world hasn’t learned its lessons and hasn’t changed one iota,” she said. “There are still those who would revel in my downfall and dance on my grave.”
A family photo shared by Firestone shows three dozen people at a wedding before the Holocaust. Nearly all were killed, she said.
Beverly Hills police said they received three reports of anti-Semitic incidents this week. It is not known if they are connected.
Protesters could be heard chanting, “No more guns, no more war.” A ceasefire is what we are fighting for’
Spray-painted messages such as “Zionism equals racism” and “Israel is fascist” appeared on the sidewalks of the Cornell University campus in upstate New York on Wednesday.
It’s been two weeks since Hamas launched its devastating attack on Israel and tensions continue to rise in the region as the terrorist organization reported clashes with the IDF on Friday.
Anti-Semitic messages, symbols and graffiti have been reported at demonstrations, college campuses and in neighborhoods across the country.
Pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested on Friday while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, as hundreds stormed Grand Central.
Earlier this week, posts at Cornell University read: “Israel is fascist,” “Zionism equals racism,” “Free Palestine,” and “F**k Israel.”
An NYU student held up anti-Semitic “keep the world clean” signs in the heart of Manhattan during the “walkout” protest organized by Ryna Workman, a law student who previously called Hamas’ attack on Israel “necessary.”
After seeing the increasing hatred toward Jews and Israel across the country, Firestone said she hopes people who committed the acts can visit the Holocaust Museum to learn more about the Jews who endured these acts.
She wants police to find the person who left the graffiti, not to face possible criminal consequences, but to understand the true meaning behind those words.
“I think this global conflict now, in the Middle East, has certainly polarized everyone,” Firestone said. ‘It’s a human issue. It is a civil society issue.”
“I want you to look at who you’re doing this to,” Firestone said. “Stop and think about, ‘Why do I hate these people?’