Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of antisemitism.
A person left a thin wooden board with a swastika drawn on it outside of Congregation Beth Shalom on East Third Street this week.
An employee first saw the board, along with two playing cards, when leaving the synagogue at 6 p.m. Tuesday and called the Bloomington Police Department, BPD Captain Ryan Pedigo said.
Pedigo said surveillance footage shows the suspect walking up to the synagogue and leaving the items before walking away. BPD is reviewing nearby security footage.
Beth Shalom Rabbi Noach Lawrence offered the following statement.
"I can confirm that we found a piece of wood with a swastika drawn on it left outside our synagogue,” Lawrence said. “We reported the incident to the police, who are fully investigating the incident; there is no evidence of a threat or ongoing concern; beyond that we are not commenting publicly at this time while we focus on supporting our community."
A report from the Anti-Defamation League released Jan. 10 documented a rise in antisemitism across the country in the months following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, with 361% more antisemitic incidents occurring than in the same timeframe in 2022-23. The report includes incidents of “antisemitic rhetoric, expressions of support for terrorism against the state of Israel and/or anti-Zionism.”
The ADL updated its methodology after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack to include anti-Zionism incidents with other antisemitic incidents in its report. However, the group still found a 103% increase in antisemitic incidents excluding the incidents of anti-Zionism included in the methodology update.
