SPOKANE — A South Hill church sign was vandalized with an antisemitic message this week.
The words “GOD BLESS ISRAEL, JAN 28, 10:00 AM, ALL WELCOME” on Plymouth Congregational Church’s message board were covered by a profane message bashing “Zionism” written in orange paint. The board is outside the church on the corner of South Walnut Street and West Eighth Avenue.
The Anti-Defamation League defines Zionism as “the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.”
The church’s pastor reported the vandalism Wednesday, said Spokane Police Department Officer Daniel Strassenberg, a spokesman for the department. The vandalism remained Thursday.
Strassenberg said police have no suspects.
CNN reported earlier this month that antisemitism had “skyrocketed” across the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war broke out Oct. 7, according to data from the Anti-Defamation League.
The league tracked 3,283 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7, a 361 percent increase compared to the 712 incidents the organization said were reported during the same period the year before.
