The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia was vandalized with red paint for the second time within two weeks on the morning of Aug. 25.
Philadelphia police said the Israeli flag displayed on the museum’s exterior was defaced around 4:45 a.m., according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. A spokesperson for the museum told CBS Philadelphia that the building had been vandalized the previous week, as well.
In both incidents, the vandal used red paint to cover the banner’s message, “The Weitzman stands with Israel.”
The vandalism is under investigation, with cleanup underway, the spokesperson told JNS.
“Appallingly, vandalizing Jewish institutions has become a daily occurrence in America,” Dan Tadmor, the president and CEO of the Weitzman, said in an Aug. 26 statement. “The ADL reported over 9,000 cases of antisemitism just this past year. Unfortunately, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History has become part of that statistic.”
Tadmor said this incident wouldn’t deter the museum’s mission, adding that the Weitzman would rehang the Israeli flag as well as a large sign calling for the release of the hostages still in captivity in Gaza. This decision follows the Weitzman’s original announcement that the museum would replace the twice-vandalized Israeli flag with the “hostage-focused sign,” drawing criticism from many who viewed the move as backing down in the face of hatred.
“What we certainly did not intend with this plan was to create a perception that we were capitulating to vandals or had somehow walked back our position of unequivocal support for Israel and its people,” Tadmor wrote in a statement, as reported by JTA. “Yet that’s how it was perceived by some. … [W]e are a proudly Jewish and proudly Zionist institution.”
“We are saddened and outraged by the repeated vandalism at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey, Anti-Defamation League, Philadelphia and StandWithUs, Mid-Atlantic Region wrote in a joint statement emailed to Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “Acts of hate like this have no place in Greater Philadelphia or anywhere in the region. We are grateful to law enforcement for their swift response and coordination, and we are committed to supporting the Weitzman as it moves through this painful moment.”
The statement added that the Weitzman is more than a museum; it is a national institution that “preserves and shares the story of Jewish life in America, inspires pride in Jewish heritage and welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to learn and connect.”
“An attack on the Weitzman is not only an attack on the Jewish community but also on the values of education, inclusion and cultural understanding that strengthen our society,” the statement read.
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, a historian and rabbi emeritus of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent he was “mortified” but unsurprised that the Weitzman had been vandalized twice within two weeks.
“[The fact] that it happened twice made it more than two times [as] bad,” he said, drawing a comparison to the Richter scale used to measure an earthquake’s magnitude. “The difference between one and two [on the Richter scale] is not one, but 10. … So, it was a double dirty blow. [It] really stung.”
Sussman said he considers the act of vandalism both antisemitic and anti-Zionist due to the museum being one of American Jewish history.
“[The Weitzman] happens to proudly display the Israeli flag on its front, facing Independence Mall,” Sussman noted. “You cannot separate the two, so by attacking the museum, in my opinion, it becomes more specifically antisemitic as well as anti-Israel and anti-Zionist.”
Although most of the red paint obscured the part of the banner that read, “The Weitzman stands with Israel,” some paint ended up on the building’s facade and part of its plaza.
“I didn’t go to survey the damage myself, but it seemed to me the red — which is meant to symbolize genocide, blood — defaced quite a bit of the building and the sidewalk,” Sussman said. “It was not a limited attack. It was bold and meant to be highly provocative.”
He contextualized the incidents of vandalism with what he calls antisemitism coming from “literally every direction” of the political spectrum.
“What’s happened is we’re in a very complicated environment right now, where you have the confluence of different anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist trends converging in the United States,” Sussman said. “It’s a very difficult moment.”
In recent months, other Jewish institutions across the world have faced similar vandalism. In late July, the Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland found blue swastikas spray-painted on its doors. A man in New York wrote “Gaza” on a Jewish art museum in May. Two synagogues and a Holocaust memorial in Paris were vandalized with green paint that same month.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro condemned the most recent incident of vandalism.
“The Weitzman Museum is literally steps away from the birthplace of democracy and a symbol of liberty and justice for all,” Shapiro said in a statement to the Forward.
“Antisemitic vandalism has no place there — or anywhere in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — and must be universally condemned. Expressing views through acts of hate doesn’t further a cause.”
“This was an act of vandalism, but it was also meant as intimidation and an attempt to threaten the Jewish community in Philadelphia, and we have to stand our ground,” Sussman said. “I’m glad that [the] Weitzman is being strong, and its new leadership, Dan Tadmor, is being very strong about this.”
[…] This incident comes months after the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia was vandalized twice within two weeks. […]