Seattle's Holocaust Center for Humanity vandalized
SEATTLE — The Holocaust Center for Humanity is the latest target of vandalism in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
Officials with the non-profit center on Second Avenue and Lenora Street filed a police report and the case was originally investigated as a reportedhate crime, police confirmed to KOMO News. In an update Saturday, SPD said it determined the graffiti was not a crime.
“SPD investigators learned the message reading, 'Genocide in Gaza' was written in pen and was wiped off a front window without causing damage or expense," a spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. No explicit threat was made... We take these incidents seriously and investigate them to the fullest extent. This incident will be documented in the Seattle Police Department’s statistics as a non-criminal bias incident motivated by political ideology.”
Staff arrived at the center on Tuesday and found the words, "Genocide in Gaza," written in red lettering and covering a photo of a Holocaust survivor.
The American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group, reported an increase in similar incidents amid tensions from the Israel-Hamas war.
"I think that anti-Semitism in Seattle is surging right now," said AJC Regional Director Regina Sassoon Friedland. "I think whatever your opinions are about a political conflict somewhere else in the world, it does not give you the green light for discrimination of other people."
She said the image defaced at the center is that of Steve Adler. The Holocaust Center told KOMO News, that Adler spent his life teaching others about unchecked hate through visits to local schools and at the center until he passed away in 2019.
"Never again being silent, and speaking out when it could make a difference," Adler said in his survivor testimony on the center's website.
The center's office was closed for Juneteenth, but the CEO wrote the center is "saddened that someone would think that they are making a difference by vandalizing a nonprofit. A nonprofit with a mission to educate. The Holocaust Center for Humanity has experienced vandalism from white Supremacists, this feels no different. It highlights the importance of and our commitment to education."
Friedland said that this case follows a recently reported hate crime in which someone threw a rock through a Jewish family's window in Greenwood. The family's sign on the windowsill read: "Seattle stands with Israel."
Friedland wants more local and state leaders to step up and denounce the hate.
"It sets a tone this is not welcome here and we’re not going to tolerate it, and that’s something that’s really needed right now," Friedland said.
The same center where this vandalism happened also hosted State Attorney General Bob Ferguson as a speaker in recent months.
In a statement in response to this crime, Ferguson said a new reporting system is on the way.
“Speaking at the Holocaust Center for Humanity just days after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was an event I’ll never forget. It’s shocking that anyone would engage in an act of vandalism and deface an image of a Holocaust survivor at the Center," Ferguson said in a statement to KOMO. "This is one of the reasons my team is working to launch a Hate Crimes and Bias Incidents Hotline which will work to combat hate, bias and extremism impacting all communities. We must work together to combat hate.”
His opponent in the governor's race, Dave Reichert, added more accountability is needed to hold the offenders responsible.
"I really believe misdemeanors matter. These incidents may seem small in nature," Reichert said. "We've got to identify the people who are responsible for this and take action."
Seattle's Mayor Bruce Harrell released a statement earlier this year about what his office describes as a concerning increase in hate crimes and bias incidents.