Anti-Semitic Graffiti Plagues Wealthy Washington, DC, Neighborhood

Residents of a wealthy Washington, D.C., neighborhood are increasingly concerned by continued incidences of anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist graffiti being painted on sidewalks and buildings, reports The Washington Free Beacon.

"Symbols are the first indicators that the problem of virulent anti-Semitism within radical Islam is coming to our shores and we should not delude ourselves into believing that America is immune from what Europe has been confronted with recently," Sarah Stern, founder and president of D.C.-based, pro-Israel group Endowment for Middle East Truth, said in an interview with the Beacon.

The graffiti first appeared last August and residents of the Dupont Circle area told The Washington Free Beacon that some of the vandalism included the words "Allahu Akbar" written in Arabic next to Jewish stars.

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The vandalism is not the only incidence of anti-Semitism in the nation's capital in recent months.

In January, ABC News7 aired a report about anti-Semitic, racist threats being made by self-avowed members of ISIS against a Jewish-owned business, but the investigation was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security after the Metropolitan Police Department deemed the threats not credible.

A day later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intervened to take over the investigation, according to ABC's Washington, D.C., affiliate.

The United States has not been immune to the kind of anti-Semitic vandalism and violence that has occurred in Europe recently, says Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president for the New York Board of Rabbis.

"Unfortunately anti-Semitism has become fashionable again. It's not a big deal to hate the Jews. The first group that gets attacked is the Jews," he told The Times of Israel.

After a symbolic resolution calling on the Board of Regents at the University of California Davis to divest from Israel was approved, anti-Semitic graffiti was painted on a toilet stall at The Hillel House, a prominent Jewish group, the Sacramento Bee reported. The case is now being investigated as a hate crime.

Also in January, a New York City Council meeting debating a resolution commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, reports the New York Daily News.

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