Hanukkah menorah
Hanukkah menorahiStock

Police are investigating the vandalization of a menorah in northwest London as a hate crime, with the rabbi who set it up it saying he will “never surrender to darkness.”

Rabbi Yossi Baitz told the Jewish Chronicle that he was certain the damage done to the menorah in Camden was targeted vandalism.

Rabbi Baitz said that the menorah’s lights were ripped off and thrown on the ground.

He shared photos on Twitter showing the menorah broken in half and tipped over. A sign from Chabad of Camden Town wishing a “Happy Hanukkah” had also been torn off and was on the ground.

“I’m the rabbi who worked so hard to put this menorah as a symbol of light,” Rabbi Baitz tweeted. “It breaks my heart to see it vandalized. I promise to put this menorah again every Hanukkah. We will never surrender to darkness.”

Rabbi Baitz also thanked the police “for the quick response, sensitivity and efficiency.”

Police opened an investigation and are treating the incident as a hate crime.

“Chilling to see anti-Semitic violence strike the heart of our community yet again,” Camden Councillor Oliver Cooper said in a statement. “Hanukkah is about the light banishing the darkness. But my goodness there’s a lot of darkness about.”