An unusual spate of anti-Semitic incidents has occurred in the Bay Area in the last few weeks.
And while none seem to be connected, “these all happened within days of each other,” said Jonathan Bernstein, executive director of the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League. “This is the most incidents we’ve responded to in the shortest period of time.”
Over Memorial Day weekend, a number of swastikas and phrases saying “die Jew” were painted on numerous walls and windows at Glorietta Elementary School in Orinda. While the markings were immediately covered up once they were discovered, Bernstein said it took a week before the school administration spoke out against it. He also heard there were other similar incidents that went unreported.
Bernstein met Wednesday, June 8, with school administrators as well as the district superintendent, to discuss how to deal with hate crimes in the future.
“Our soapbox issue is to get administrators to respond immediately,” he said. “This occurred over the weekend, and they sent out an e-mail message to parents on [the following] Friday. These things have to come out the day they happen, otherwise it creates a lot of angst and tension in the community, and the people who were targeted feel like nobody cares, that they’re not protected.”
At the June 8 meeting, Bernstein said the superintendent and administration acknowledged they did not handle the matter appropriately. They agreed to follow up meetings with the ADL to put policies in place and to hold diversity-training workshops for teachers and students.
Bernstein said that many of the Jewish students were upset that the school did not acknowledge the incident immediately, and he hoped to organize a workshop on confronting anti-Semitism at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, where most of them belong.
The ADL is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who can help lead to the arrest of anyone responsible for the crime.
In Vallejo, a swastika was painted in egg on the door of Congregation B’nai Israel. It was discovered Thursday, June 2, but could have been there a few days.
This incident is considered particularly disturbing because the synagogue was the target of an arson attack almost exactly a year ago. The fire was set in the synagogue’s office, and was discovered by chance by a passing fire truck. Firefighters broke into the synagogue to put out the blaze before it could do much damage. The case remains unsolved.
Lionel Jacobs, a past president of the congregation, said he was feeling “violated.”
He was hoping a meeting with the ADL and local police would prompt more thorough and regular patrols.
On May 18 on Cypress Avenue in San Jose, a racial slur was burned into the lawn of an African American home. Also, swastikas were burned into the lawns of eight neighboring homes, two of which were Jewish.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department has been investigating the possibility that the suspects had attended a nearby party the night before.
Bernstein said his office was working along with the local NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley.
“The main target seemed to be the African American family, as they had specific graffiti burned into their lawn that clearly identified them as black,” he said.
In Alameda, a Magen David and the word “Yuden” appeared on a business around June 1. Police did not release the name of the business, but it was not Jewish-owned. Bernstein called this the least serious of the four incidents.
“I don’t think there’s a connection between any of these incidents,” he said, “but when there isn’t a strong enough response to an incident, it creates an environment in which future incidents occur”
Bernstein also noted that his office has been monitoring a few skinhead groups in the San Jose area that could have been responsible.