Crosses, swastikas and slanderous graffiti were sprayed on the walls of a yeshiva on Petach Tikva’s Rechov Rothschild last night. Police have promised to catch the offenders and said in a statement that “this is a violation of a holy place and we do not believe it is a prank.”
Petach Tikva councilman Yaakov Fellheimer said, “How dare they do such a thing? This is an affront – just like the Nazis killed all the Jews, not just the religious, so does this deed go against the the entirety of the Jewish people.
“These people should be deported from the country. If we don’t deal with this and find the parties responsible, we shall find ourselves at the brink of disaster. ”
Police said that they regard the incident with great severity. “This is slanderous graffiti, with Nazi characteristics, sprayed in the city’s center of all places. In light of past incidents of this nature in Petach Tikva we are deploying reinforcements in an effort to catch the culprits,” a police statement said.
“We are unclear as yet of the perpetrators’ identity but this constitutes a violation of a holy place and it does not appear to be a prank. Whoever did this knew what he was doing and where to go to commit the act.”
Petach Tikva has previously served as a target for a gang that sprayed swastikas in the city’s Great Synagogue and various other locations. Following a lengthy investigation several members of the gang were sentenced to jail time, while others were deported from the country.
{Ynet/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
