Los Angeles, CA – Officials with Ikar, a prominent Los Angeles synagogue, confirmed that their office was targeted in an antisemitic attack.
Swastikas were etched into the office windows late Thursday night or early Friday, according to a joint statement from Melissa Balaban, Ethan Goldstine and Michelle Rosenthal, the company’s chief executive, president and vice-chairman, respectively.
“Fortunately, no one was present or physically injured,” the statement said. “We have alerted the relevant authorities and we are taking all measures to ensure the safety of our staff and our community, including reviewing security footage to see if we can better understand the attack and reviewing our security protocols to all the places where the IKARites meet, work., and learn.”
Synagogue officials called the incident distressing but “unfortunately not surprising,” noting an increase in antisemitic acts in recent years.
“We also know that this comes at a time when we are all devastated and outraged by the mass shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo and Orange County, heartbroken as war continues to rage in Ukraine, reeling from the many attacks against reproductive rights, and still facing the vagaries and relentlessness of a pandemic,” the statement read.
The apparent hate incident comes days after a rental truck carrying antisemitic messages drove down Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Activists have identified the group responsible as the Goyim Defamation League, a hate group responsible for at least 74 incidents of anti-Semitic propaganda in 2021, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
