Authorities look for vandal who spray painted Israeli flag on the Parkway near Holocaust Memorial

CENTER CITY (KYW Newsradio) — Police are investigating the vandalism of the Israeli flag along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City, adjacent to the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza.

It happened around 5:35 a.m. Friday morning and surveillance video shows a masked man pull up on a bicycle and spray paint the flag red.

In a statement, Eszter Kutas, executive director of the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, called the vandalism a "vile act of antisemitism" and said it was the fourth anti-Semitic incident at the Holocaust Memorial Plaza just this year.

She also called the drastic rise of antisemitism "unnerving" amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.

“The conflict raging in the Middle East should not give cover to hateful conduct like this,” said Kutas. “People who are actually interested in supporting peace efforts engage in dialogue rather than the destruction of public property.”

The vandalism was also condemned in a statement by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

It tied the defacement to the recent overnight drone attack claimed by Houthi rebels that killed one person and injured 10 in Tel Aviv.

“This defacement following last night’s terror attack in Israel was meant to threaten and intimidate the Greater Philadelphia Jewish community, further contributing to rising levels of antisemitism nationally,” read part of the statement.

The federation also thanked the quick work of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s office to remove and replace the defaced flag.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Philadelphia Police Department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.