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Swastikas sprayed on wall of Dimona synagogue

Mayor promises to pay NIS 2,000 to anyone who provides information on perpetrators

Anat Bereshkovsky
Published: 09.14.07, 19:52
Israel Jewish Scene

Two swastikas were spray-painted Friday morning on the walls of a Dimona synagogue.

Worshippers who arrived at the southern city's Beit Ephraim Synagogue for the morning prayer service of the second day of the Jewish New Year were surprised to discover swastikas on the building's wall and on the fence surrounding it.

Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen, who was among those who discovered the swastikas, promised to pay NIS 2,000 (about $488) from his own pocket to anyone who would provide information on the perpetrators.

In spite of the holiday, municipality workers arrived at the synagogue and erased the swastikas from the wall.

Cohen told Ynet, "I arrived at the synagogue and felt terrible. I think that following the reports on the neo-Nazi cells uncovered in Israel, all the mice are now coming out of their holes, and we have to fight them firmly.

"In the coming days I plan to do nothing else but deal with this issue. I have recruited all the municipality inspectors to find out who sprayed the swastikas."

Series of incidents

On Monday, Christian crosses and the words "Hitler is the messiah, long live Jesus" were spray-painted  on the walls of the Pahad Yitzhak synagogue in Eilat.

Yosef Shofen, the synagogue's manager, told Ynet: "Last night at around 10 pm I arrived at the synagogue after being notified that a group of some 25 teenagers had gathered around the building. They were sitting, shirtless, and were drinking alcohol. I asked them to leave but they refused."

Shofen said he was therefore not surprised to find the hate slogans and crucifixes on the synagogues walls when he arrived there at 6 pm Monday evening.

The teenagers accused of belonging to a Neo-Nazi cell in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area are also suspected of spraying swastikas and desecrating synagogues in Petah Tikva.

In March 2006, swastikas were spray-painted on walls of a synagogue in the city, with the words 'White Power' written above them. Walls of an adjacent apartment building bore the words "death to Jews" in red paint, along with the letters 'WP'.

Two months later, swastikas were painted on a main street in Petach Tikva. At that time, the name 'Rammstein' – a German heavy-metal group accused of fascist sympathies - was painted on the door of a local synagogue.

Swastikas sprayed on wall of Dimona synagogue (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3449374,00.html)