Spray-Painted Anti-Semitism Hits Historic Barbados Synagogue
Image by wikimedia commons
(JTA) — A synagogue on the Island of Barbados was vandalized with red spray-painted anti-Semitic messages.
The messages were painted on the exterior walls of the synagogue in St. Michael early on Friday morning, the local Nation News website reported.
The Nidḥe Israel Synagogue, located on Synagogue Lane in Bridgetown, St. Michael, the island’s capital, was built in 1654, destroyed by a hurricane in 1831, and then rebuilt. The building, owned and renovated by the Barbados National Trust, remains in use as a synagogue today. In 2011, the synagogue and a mikvah dating to the 17th century excavated next to the building in 2008, were designated as UNESCO protected properties within the World Heritage Site of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison area.
The spray-painted graffiti was removed the same day it was discovered, according to the Nation News.
The graffiti contained anti-Semitic epithets and referred to the International Money Fund, a construction worker involved in the clean up told the Nation News.
“It’s the first time that anything like this has ever happened that I am aware of, as Barbados is not known for anti-Semitism,” an unnamed synagogue employee told the news website.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
