Antisemitism strikes Pittsburgh again in targeted attack

PITTSBURGH — Members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood woke up Monday morning to more vandalism and threats, as if in a recurring nightmare.

Just six years ago, the worst massacre of Jews in the United States happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue, which claimed the lives of 11 worshippers here. Now personal and city property and the Chabad here have been covered in threatening graffiti . Among the messages were ones that said “Jews 4 Palestine” with a red inverted triangle — a mark that symbolizes a target that has been used in videos by Hamas’s military wing to identify Israeli military targets.

Also hit were several homes and city property as well as the signage for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh that was spray-painted in red as well, saying the organization “funds genocide.”

The blatant attacks meant to intimidate and destabilize the tightknit community came less than two days after a pro-Palestinian march blocked traffic as it made its way through the city of Pittsburgh while chanting “F*** these racist a** police” and “Israel is a terrorist state,” even as they accepted the help of city police who escorted them through the downtown streets. The protesters stopped in front of the headquarters of PNC Bank, U.S. Steel, and UPMC, calling on all of them to divest from Israel.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said in a statement it “is angered and disgusted by the acts of antisemitic graffiti and vandalism on our office building overnight,” adding that the location and nature of the vandalism suggest the perpetrators were targeting a prominent Jewish organization to blame Jews for the actions of a foreign government — a typical antisemitic trope.

The vandalism comes two days after a Saturday afternoon strike with an Iranian-made rocket in northern Israel killed 12 children who were on a soccer field with their families. Think how common such a soccer gathering is in the U.S., and then imagine it being bombed.

Of course that bombing, and the graffiti, both come just 10 months after the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel in October, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostage. Since then, an alarming amount of antisemitic activism has swept across cities and universities, with the Anti-Defamation League reporting that nearly 9,000 incidents have occurred since the Hamas attack. Pennsylvania ranks eighth highest in the country in antisemitic attacks in the past 10 months.

Days after the attack, messages of “Death to America” were painted throughout the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, including on the local high school, where “Free Palestine” was sprayed across the school’s main entrance wall.

“For blood and soil” was spray-painted on a brick walkway outside a home in the North Side section of the city, where owners had placed an Israeli flag.

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), who is Jewish and considered a top contender by Democrats to be presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s running mate, said that the community that witnessed the deadliest act of antisemitism in our nation’s history at the Tree of Life Synagogue should not need to wake up to this in their neighborhood.

“Vandalism of any type of a house of worship has no home in our Commonwealth — and we must all continue to call it out and speak with moral clarity,” said Shapiro.

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Last month, protesters at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning set up an encampment on the campus while they clashed with police, eventually leading to the arrest of several people including Cory Roma, the newly elected vice president of the Young Democrats of Allegheny County.

Pittsburgh police said in a statement they are investigating the incidents.