![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/tempelisraelmainimage10925.avif\")
<\/a>Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman said she was notified by one of Temple Israel\u2019s neighbors about the vandalism. She said her first reaction was outrage and pain.<\/p>\n\u201cThis does not solve any problem, and blaming American Jews in Minnesota for what\u2019s happening globally is hate speech, it\u2019s antisemitism. It\u2019s nothing different than that,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about political differences. It\u2019s about hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the building was spray-painted \u201cWatch out Zionists,\u201d \u201cF*ck Zionism,\u201d and \u201cAl-Aqsa Flood,\u201d Hamas\u2019 code name for the Oct. 7 attack. There were also 14 inverted red triangles spray-painted on the building \u2014 a symbol associated with Hamas, which has used it in videos produced by its military wing to signify Israeli targets. The symbol has appeared in other graffiti of Jewish institutions during theIsrael-Hamas war.<\/p>\n
Zimmerman said a report has been filed with the Minneapolis Police Department and video footage has been turned over for the investigation. E-mails to the MPD seeking comment were not returned.<\/p>\n
Steve Hunegs, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, called the incident \u201charrowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s targeted and consciously imitating the mass terrorism of Oct. 7,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get much more antisemitic and violent than that, other than the actual perpetration of the horrific acts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunegs said the incident represents an escalation of anti-Israel rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing that someone would take the time to, in the middle of the night on Oct. 7, to vandalize the synagogue with the most incendiary, venomous message you could possibly find,\u201d he said. The perpetrators, Hunegs said, decided \u201cterrorism against Jews is worthy of celebration, and [they\u2019re] going to take that message to an iconic synagogue in the heart of Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zimmerman said that she heard from Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish and has attended services at Temple Israel. He said in a tweet that the vandalism was \u201ca reminder that hate still tries to find a foothold\u201d but that it would not find on in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are reaching out and in that, you feel a connection and camaraderie and support,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201cWhich is very helpful, but it doesn\u2019t take away the horror of the message. It does help to not feel so alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zimmerman said she is a proud Zionist who also wants to see an end to suffering in Gaza \u2014 something that she said whoever spray-painted the graffiti did not understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do understand the nuance and the complicated realities of the world and see each other as human, then you don\u2019t do this. It\u2019s disregarding the humanity of others by promoting hate and promulgating hate,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not going to stop us from continuing to do our work and to do interfaith work and to move forward in being proud of being Jewish and teaching about Israel and making sure that we work towards peace and towards the mission of being in the city and supporting the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story originally appeared on TC Jewfolk, an independent publication covering Jewish life in Minneapolis.<\/em><\/p>\n