A Washington, D.C.-area Jewish center was vandalized with 19 swastikas overnight Saturday, the organization confirmed to The Hill.
The Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Northern Virginia, located outside of Washington in Fairfax, Va., was spray-painted with 19 swastikas overnight, a representative of the center told The Hill on Saturday afternoon.
In a statement, JCC condemned the graffiti and said Fairfax County police were called immediately. Police are investigating, according to the center’s leadership, and the JCC is working to have the graffiti removed Saturday.
The Fairfax County Police Department could not immediately confirm anything related to the incident.
“As many of us recognize, these acts do not represent the community around the J or the community in Northern Virginia,” JCC Executive Director Jeff Dannick and the president of the organization’s board of directors, David Yaffe, said in a statement.
“The J as a whole, and particularly through the focused efforts of our Committee for a Just and Caring Community, will continue to participate as a positive force in both the Jewish and wider communities,” they added.
Yaffe said the incident was “disturbing on multiple levels,” but declined to comment further, citing the ongoing police investigation.
…State attorney general Mark Herring took aim at Virginia politicians for being “complacent about the rise of white supremacist violence and anti-Semitism.”
“Way too many politicians in Virginia are way too complacent about the rise of white supremacist violence and anti-Semitism. The threat is real, it’s growing, and we have to take a stand,” Herring tweeted Saturday morning.
The center has been targeted by vandalism before.
Last year, the JCC was spray-painted with anti-Semitic messages including, “Hitler was right,” on the first night of Passover, a local NBC affiliate reported.
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