Editor’s note: This article, published at 5:34 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2024, was updated at 4:33 p.m. on Aug. 21, 2024, to add comments from Police Chief Marc Yamada.
Montgomery County police are investigating multiple “bias-related vandalism” incidents at a Jewish synagogue and a coffee shop in Bethesda as well as several county public schools over the past nine days.
On Tuesday, for the second time in less than two weeks, Congregation Beth El at 8215 Old Georgetown Road was vandalized, according to police. According to a Tuesday letter written by Beth El leaders, the synagogue’s new “Let Them Go Now” sign–referring to a campaign advocating for the return of hostages taken by Hamas in Israel during an Oct. 7 attack–and the concrete stairs leading from Old Georgetown Road to the front door were “tagged with anti-Israel graffiti.”
The graffiti found Tuesday consists of red spray-painted phrases including “Jews against Israel” on the steps outside of the synagogue and “No Genocide” on the new sign, according to photos obtained by MoCo360.
“The language was less graphic, but no less insulting than the vandalism last week,” the synagogue’s leaders said in the letter.
Last week, the synagogue’s former sign was vandalized with “graphic antisemitic, anti-Israel” graffiti, according to an Aug. 13 letter to the congregation. That sign was replaced with the “Let Them Go Now” sign, which was vandalized Tuesday.
“Hate language is designed to intimidate, belittle, and silence us. Despite tensions in the Middle East continuing to escalate, now, more than ever, we as a community need to stand together,” the Aug. 13 letter said.
The most recent graffiti was discovered Tuesday morning and congregation leaders reported it to county police as well as several regional Jewish organizations, Tuesday’s letter stated. In addition, congregation leaders said they planned to provide law enforcement with access to their security footage.
According to county police, the vandalism reported at Beth El is one out of eight incidents in the past nine days in which schools, businesses and places of worship have been targeted with bias-related graffiti. Police are investigating the incidents as bias-related vandalism and malicious destruction of property.
The incidents have occurred as tensions continue nationwide over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
In a statement Wednesday, Police Chief Marc Yamada said the department is asking the public to come forward with information about the vandalism.
“The recent acts of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel vandalism at our schools and places of worship are unacceptable and the Montgomery County Police department is taking every investigative step possible to close these cases by arrest,” Yamada said in the statement.
“These incidents are not only crimes; they are hateful actions that seek to divide our community and instill fear in our residents,” he continued. “Let me be clear; every person, faith, culture and religion has the right to feel safe and respected in Montgomery County. These acts of bias and hate will not be tolerated.”
The first county incident occurred Aug. 11 when graffiti that read “Israel rapes men, women and children” and other phrases were found spray-painted on the sign and surrounding sidewalks of Bethesda Elementary School at 7600 Arlington Road, the site of a Sunday farmers market.
Two days later, “biased-related graffiti” was found at a Starbucks at 7700 Norfolk Ave in downtown Bethesda’s Woodmont Triangle, according to police. Then on Aug. 13 the graffiti was found at Congregation Beth El.
The second act of vandalism at Beth El also comes just one day after graffiti labeled as antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ was found at four more county public schools: Fallsmead Elementary School in Rockville, Strathmore Elementary School in Silver Spring, Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and Winston Churchill High School in Potomac.
At Strathmore Elementary, graffiti of a swastika and the word “Hitler” were written on the exterior of the building. The phrase, “Israel bomb schools,” was spray-painted on a wall at Fallsmead Elementary, according to two photos of the graffiti provided to MoCo360.
The graffiti at the schools was discovered Monday morning, which was the first day of pre-service training for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) teachers before classes start Aug. 26.
In a Monday evening post on X, MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor called for the community to “stand together against hate.”
“Very sad that many of our teachers returned to vandalized schools today with abhorrent messages,” Taylor said.
Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said in a Monday statement the graffiti is harmful to the “entire shared community.”
“The horrific terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th and the ensuing war in Gaza have brought tremendous pain and suffering to Israeli, Jewish, Palestinian, and other Arab families in our area,” Siegel said. “But litigating the war on school walls will do nothing to achieve peace in the affected region and only further inflames tensions and divisiveness here at home.”
In a statement Tuesday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said it was “troubled” by the acts of vandalism and encouraged community members to report incidents or concerns to local police and the federation’s security division, JShield.
“Ahead of the new school year, we must send a clear message that there is zero tolerance for hate at our schools,” the statement said.
In addition, local elected officials voiced their concern with the recent spate of vandalism on social media Monday. County Council President Andrew Friedson thanked Taylor for a “strong response” to the vandalism.
Councilmember Kate Stewart said “antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ hatred must be called out” in the county and called for the community to unite to ensure a safe start to the school year, which begins Monday.