‘NO JEWS’ and other anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on house for sale

For the second time since November, a house in one New York county has been vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti.

In Haverstraw, New York, an inspector, Baruch Weiner, entered a vacant home Tuesday on behalf of a potential buyer, according to local media reports. When he did, he found a broken glass pane in the basement door, which was unlocked, according to The Journal News.

Then, Weiner said he found multiple incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted around the house. On a basement wall, the words “NO JEWS” had been drawn in large letters. Elsewhere, he found other painting on the floors and in the kitchen, according to the North Rockland Daily Voice.

According to CBS New York, Weiner had been inspecting the house on behalf of a Jewish person interested in buying the house, which is owned by a bank and is unoccupied. A police investigation has been opened and the incident is being treated as a hate crime.

“Hate speech is hate speech. And if it’s aimed at one population today, it’ll be aimed at another population tomorrow,” Haverstraw Town Supervisor Howard Phillips said. “Here we are on Memorial Day weekend and we’re talking about somebody who really discriminating against a race, when we had a whole generation of men that went out and fought a war against this type of fascist attitude.”

No suspects have been identified by police, who said they likely approached the house from the wooded backyard before breaking in.

This is not the first time anti-Semitic graffiti has appeared in the area, per CBS New York. In mid-November, just after the presidential election, two properties for sale in Pomona, which is just six miles from Haverstraw, were spray-painted in orange with the exact same phrase: “NO JEWS.”

“Unfortunately, there is a small group that has engaged in hate,” Rockland County Legislator Aron Wieder told the Daily Voice. “It is up to the rest of us to stand as one in the face of this repugnant belief system and behavior. I know the majority of county residents join with me in condemning these actions.”

According to The Journal News, there have been no arrests or suspects in that case.

This story was originally published May 28, 2017 at 6:09 PM with the headline "‘NO JEWS’ and other anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on house for sale."