Swastika painted on Chicago Synagogue, Jewish businesses damaged over weekend

[mucifer]

Rabbi Levi Notik and members of his synagogue had just finished packing food bank meals for Holocaust survivors and seniors Sunday, when they walked outside to a “disturbing” sight, Notik said: a yellow swastika spray-painted on their building.

Then, as the group dealt with the graffiti, a young man on his way to synagogue services arrived distraught, saying he had just been “jumped by someone screaming racial slurs,” Notik said Monday.

Multiple Jewish businesses and synagogues were vandalized in the West Rogers Park neighborhood during the weekend, according to Chicago police and reports from the Concerned Citizens League.

“Make no mistake: this attack, as well as the deep hatred and bigotry that drives other anti-Semitic acts like it, is an attack on our city’s Jewish community and social fabric,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement Monday. “Those responsible must be held accountable.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-vandalism-rogers-park-jewish-businesses-synagogues-20220131-sezs4imurveirjcjzqnv5joici-story.html

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Niles man faces hate-crime charges for antisemitic vandalism in Rogers Park

A 39-year-old Niles man has been charged with several hate-crime offenses after a synagogue and school were vandalized in Rogers Park over the weekend.

Shahid Hussain faces two felony counts of committing a hate crime against a synagogue or church and two felony counts of committing a hate crime against a school, among other charges, Chicago police announced Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities said he is the person responsible for vandalism incidents directed at a synagogue and school on Devon Avenue and other properties.

Swastikas were discovered Sunday on a wall of the F.R.E.E. Synagogue at 2935 W. Devon Ave. and on a shipping container used by the Hanna Sacks Bais Yaakov High School at 3021 W. Devon Ave., according to police.

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