Four Maryland schools were discovered to have been vandalized with anti-Israel and antisemitic graffiti on Monday morning, according to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, marking the second week in a row that Montgomery County schools had been defaced in such a manner.
Montgomery Community Media reported that two high schools and two elementary schools were vandalized with swastikas, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, and the words "Hitler" and "Israel bombs schools."
JCRC Greater Washington COO Guila Franklin Siegel said in a statement that it was "no accident" that schools had once again been defaced in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Jewish residents and in proximity to synagogues.
"This pattern of behavior — in impact and almost certainly in design — targets Montgomery County’s Jews. In doing so, it causes tremendous harm not only to Israelis and Jews, but to our entire shared community," said Franklin Siegel. "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. 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."
Another Montgomery County elementary school had anti-Israel phrases graffitied on its property last Sunday.
Montgomery Police Had This To Say:
The Montgomery County Department of Police said last Monday that it was investigating the incident but had no suspect descriptions.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich condemned the vandalism, urging residents not to use "inflammatory rhetoric" and "hate speech" as outlets for political concerns.