Alabama Police in Alabama are investigating cases of antisemitic vandalism at two separate synagogues in Hduring the current Passover holiday.
Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti were found scrawled on the Etz Chayim Synagogue, a Conservative congregation after the first night of Passover, while a similar outrage was discovered on Friday morning at the city’s Chabad center.
Huntsville police released surveillance footage related to the incident showing an individual a man wearing a tracksuit and ski mask and holding a spray can.
The city’s police chief said that the incidents were being treated as hate crimes rather than “criminal mischief,” as a result of an amended hate crimes law passed by the Alabama state legislature last year.
“This vandalism is a direct anti-Semitic attack on the Jewish community, and on one of our most sacred holidays of unity and liberation: Passover. Anti-Semitism is an enormous problem in our communities, and we must continue to stand up and prevent its normalization,” said Allison Padilla-Goodman, the Anti-Defamation League’s vice president of the Southern Division.
Alabama is home to an approximately 9,500-strong Jewish community.