A Jewish resident of Los Angeles discovered several instances of graffiti stating “The Jew Is Guilty” on the sidewalk of the Abbott Kinney area of Venice Beach on April 20.
Daniel Khalili subsequently posted a video to Instagram of himself spray painting over the graffiti.
He found at least three separate spots where the phrase had been graffitied on the sidewalk.
Khalili covered up the anti-Semitic statements himself because he felt the city had been slow to act in previous cases, he said in an interview with the Jewish Journal, a newspaper that serves the greater Los Angeles area community.
“I didn’t want whoever put that on there to think that this is something that can be put on and people can just walk by and look at it and be okay with it,” said Khalili who stated he is not afraid of legal repercussions for using spray paint on the sidewalk.
Khalili has received an outpouring of support on Instagram for his covering up the graffiti. Messages have come from as far away as Europe. “They didn’t think that anti-Semitism reaches all the way to California.”
Jewish groups said that the graffiti was concerning.
In a statement to the Jewish Journal, StandWithUS CEO Roz Rothstein said that the graffiti was disappointing, as it was just the latest instance of anti-Semitic vandalism to hit the area.
“When people cannot enjoy the city without running into these kinds of hateful messages scapegoating the Jewish people and polluting the minds of others with this kind of vitriol, it is a sad day in our society,” said Rothstein.
She urged local business owners to post messages of solidarity with the Jewish community.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)