A vandal defaced a synagogue in Beverly Hills over the weekend, in what local authorities said is being investigated as a hate crime.
The Beverly Hills Police Department issued a statement saying that officers responded to a 911 call from the Nessah Synagogue "shortly after 7 a.m. [local time] after an employee notified security when he found an open door and items ransacked inside the synagogue."
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The Nessah Synagogue was established in 1980 by Persian Jews who immigrated to Los Angeles from Tehran after the Islamic Revolution. It is one of the city's largest Iranian-Jewish synagogues.
According to the Los Angeles Times, several rooms at the synagogue were "heavily ransacked and several Jewish relics damaged," but the synagogue's main scrolls survived "unscathed" and the property wasn't defaced with hate symbols or anti-Semitic writings. Nothing appeared to be stolen.
@BeverlyHillsPD – The Beverly Hills Police Department is actively investigating a series of vandalisms that occurred in the City of Beverly Hills overnight at Nessah Synagogue. pic.twitter.com/vPnu6t4Awx
— Beverly Hills Police (@BeverlyHillsPD) December 14, 2019
Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch issued a statement saying, "This cowardly attack hits at the heart of who we are as a community. It's not just an attack on the Jewish Community of Beverly Hills; it's an attack on all of us. The entire city stands in solidarity behind Nessah, its members and congregants. We are committed to catching the criminal who desecrated a holy place on Shabbat of all days and bringing him to justice."
Shocked and outraged by the vandalism at Nessah Synagogue in the city of Beverly Hills. We will stand together and speak out strongly against any act of hate and intolerance in our community. We're keeping our friends and neighbors in our thoughts as police investigate.
— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) December 14, 2019
Police said that while they were investigating the incident as a hate crime, so far "no overt signs of anti-Semitism were found."
The lone suspect, who was carrying a backpack and pulling a wheeled suitcase, was captured on surveillance video.
Concerns about anti-Semitic crimes have been heightened since the hate-fueled attack Tuesday by two shooters on a Jersey City kosher deli that killed a police officer and three bystanders.
"In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in Jersey City earlier this week, the American Jewish community is understandably anxious," Richard Hirschhaut, director of the American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times.
"Reports of vandalism and damage to a synagogue are deeply troubling and cause further sense of discomfort amid the presumption of anti-Semitic intent."
