|
|
May 9, 2003/Iyar 7 5763, Vol. 55, No. 37
Buchori center defaced
BARRY COHEN
Editor
City of Phoenix Hate Crimes Unit investigators have yet to find suspects for the graffiti defacement of the Buchori Jewish Community Center.
Swastikas were spray painted on the building, driveway and a nearby 1998 Oldsmobile Cutlass on Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"This is more than vandalism. Vandalism hurts your property. When you see something like that, it's more than property," said Simcha Borochov about the April 29 incident.
Borochov has been in the Valley for two years, helping to organize the Buchori Jewish community.
"Most of the (members) are from Russia," he said. "They had seen enough anti-Semitism there."
This is an immigrant community that hoped to escape such attacks, said Cathy Wolf, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. "It's angering that (attacks against Jewish property) are happening again," she noted.
"This is very shameful, and it's unbelievable," said Yakov Abramov, one of the founders of the Buchori community, now 500 families strong. "We live in the United States of America. This shouldn't happen to us."
Community center mem-bers contacted Wolf April 30 after discovering the graffiti. She said she agreed to serve as a liaison with the Phoenix Police Department and ensured that the incident would be handled through the department's Hate Crimes Unit.
"It is pretty much common sense that this was a hate crime," said Detective Jerry Oliver of the Hate Crimes Unit.
Hate crimes are defined as "incidents motivated by bias against race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or disability," said Oliver.
Police investigators have spoken to neighbors but have not located anyone who witnessed the defacement, he said.
From the street, the Buchori Jewish Community Center, located at 10th Street and Glendale Avenue, looks like a private home. The spray painting was done in a dark area away from the street, he explained.
The Hate Crimes Unit considers the attack to be an isolated incident, he added.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office contacted the Hate Crimes Unit and offered its full support, Oliver noted.
In addition, the Anti-Defamation League will work closely with the Hate Crimes Unit to track the case, said Bill Straus, ADL regional director.
"When I heard about what happened, I was disgusted," he added.
Members of the Buchori community are worried that the violence will get worse.
"We have a swastika today, we have a swastika tomorrow, and then they're going to build a bomb," said Yakov Ilyayev.
Surveillance equipment may be installed to provide increased security, said Borochov.
On two occasions, Sept. 11, 2002, and Oct. 15, 2002, the community center was broken into, and money and computers were stolen, he noted. However, these burglaries are not considered to be related to the April 29 incident, he added.
In addition to the Jewish Community Relations Council and ADL, other religious organizations have reached out to the Buchori community since the incident.
Rabbi David Rebibo of Beth Joseph Congregation has been helping the Buchori community get established in the Valley.
The fact that they were targeted is "unfortunately a reflection of the times and the environment," said Rebibo.
Two weeks ago, the Phoenix Hebrew Academy exper-ienced an attack similar to the Buchori community center, he said.
"We came in on Shabbos, and we had swastikas at the entrance of the shul," said Rebibo, who serves as the dean of the day school, which shares facilities with Beth Joseph Congregation, about one mile south of the Buchori center.
Rebibo said he reported the incident to the local federation and to Phoenix police.
The attacks on both sites are being viewed as unrelated, isolated incidents, said Wolf.
Another group reaching out to the Buchori community is the Arizona Interfaith Movement, which held a prayer vigil May 4 at the center.
"We are against all hate crimes," said Paul Eppinger, AIM executive director. "When any synagogue, mosque or church suffers any kind of hate crime ... we try to go to that location."
Fifteen people attended the vigil, representing seven religious faiths - Judaism, Church of Christ, Christian Science, Lutheran, Mormon, Methodist and Sikh, Eppinger said.
"I felt a need to be here," said Myra Shindler, program director of the Bureau of Jewish Education. "People need to be aware and recognize the problem" of such acts of hatred, she added.
Hate needs to be addressed "at the early stages before something horrible can happen," said Gary Gietz, a Mormon who serves as AIM president. He noted that he visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., with his two sons and "felt a kinship with the Jewish community," because like the Jews, Mormons have been targeted and persecuted.
"Interfaith action is a critical need now," said Eppinger. In response to attacks motivated by hate, "we need to cultivate interfaith relationships and bring people together."
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
|
