Denver Messianic Jewish Church Vandalized With Swastika

A swastika was spray-painted on the walls of Church in the City-Beth Abraham, a Messianic Jewish church in Denver. Image by Mike Schoening/Facebook
A Messianic Jewish church in Denver was vandalized on Tuesday with a spray-painted swastika and other graffiti, the Denver Post reported Wednesday.
The vandalism took place at Church in the City-Beth Abraham, which according to its website holds a contemporary Christian service on Sundays and a Messianic Shabbat service on Saturdays.
A suspect was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly being caught drawing more graffiti on the building’s trash cans, local news station Denver7 reported. Police do not know whether that was the same person who painted the graffiti a day earlier, the Post said, but pastor Michael Walker told the post that the arrested man had paint on his hands. The suspect is reportedly being held for investigation of assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and property crime.
“It feels hateful,” Walker said. “You watch it on the news, but when it hits you at home, it’s really hateful.”
The Anti-Defamation League condemned the incident. “We are deeply saddened by the vandalism at Church in the City-Beth Abraham,” ADL Mountain States Regional Director Scott Levin said in a statement. “All people deserve to worship in peace and safety, free from any attempt to intimidate them or prevent them from practicing their faith. We commend the Denver Police Department for investigating the incidents as potential hate crimes.”
So-called Messianic Jews, whose theology is not accepted by any other Jewish denomination, believe that Jesus is the messiah and the son of God. The movement most recently attracted news after Vice President Mike Pence invited a messianic “rabbi” to lead a prayer at a Michigan campaign rally.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor for the Forward. You can reach him at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO