Congregation Beth Israel is one of the oldest synagogues in Los Angeles and the spiritual home to many Holocaust survivors over the years.

A synagogue in Los Angeles was vandalized with graffiti on its walls stating “free Palestine” and “f— Israel” as the city faced violent riots and looting following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis.

The targeted Beth Israel synagogue is located in the Fairfax District. It is not the first time that the synagogue is defaced with antisemitic slogans.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said that the graffiti was done under “cover” of the ongoing protests and called it “pure and simple antisemitism.”

“It is deplorable that certain protesters in Los Angeles today resorted to violence and vandalism. Sadly, their destructive opportunism included the defacing of Congregation Beth Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in Los Angeles and the spiritual home to many Holocaust survivors over the years. The epithets scrawled on the synagogue wall do nothing to advance the cause of peace or justice, here or abroad,” said the local branch of the American Jewish Committee.

Protests continue in several cities throughout the country since George Floyd, 46, died after being pinned down by a white Minneapolis police officer, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested on Friday and charged with third-degree murder.