![\""The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/wetzmansign.jpg\")
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\u201cThe Weitzman stands with Israel\u201d sign as seen in Feb. 2024 on the exterior of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Photo by Julie Moos<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"Benyamin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Cohen-24-new-300x200.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Benyamin Cohen<\/a> For the second time in just over a week, Philadelphia\u2019s Jewish museum was targeted with red paint splattered across a large Israeli flag that hangs on the building\u2019s facade. It\u2019s the latest in a string of attacks on Jewish cultural institutions.<\/p>\n Philadelphia police confirmed they are investigating both incidents at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, which sits at the corner of South Independence Mall East and Market Street.<\/p>\n In recent months, Jewish cultural institutions from Portland to Paris have faced similar vandalism. The Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland discovered blue swastikas<\/a> sprayed across its doors in late July. In New York, a man in Greenwich Village scrawled \u201cGaza\u201d<\/a> on a Jewish art museum in late May. And in Paris, green paint was splashed<\/a> across the Holocaust memorial and several synagogues also in May. Last summer, vandals left red paint and banners<\/a> outside the Brooklyn Museum director\u2019s home, accusing her and other Jewish officials of being \u201cZionists.\u201d<\/p>\n Such incidents reflect a shift since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and ensuing war in Gaza, when antisemitic harassment and vandalism spiked in the United States and abroad. The Anti-Defamation League reported more than 9,000 antisemitic incidents<\/a> nationwide last year, including 465<\/a> in Pennsylvania alone.<\/p>\n In the state\u2019s capital, an arsonist set fire to the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on the first night of Passover when Shapiro and his family were sleeping inside. The blaze destroyed the dining room where, hours earlier, they had hosted a Seder. \u201cIt looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of our home,\u201d Shapiro wrote of the incident<\/a>. The man accused of the crime, Cody Balmer, told 911 operators<\/a> that he targeted Shapiro for his pro-Israel positions; he later told law enforcement he wanted to beat the governor with a sledgehammer.<\/p>\n \u201cAppallingly, vandalizing Jewish institutions has become a daily occurrence in America,\u201d said a Weitzman spokesperson. \u201cWe had been planning to refresh the fa\u00e7ade signage with \u2018Bring Them Home Now\u2019 hostage messaging as we approach the incomprehensible two-year anniversary of their inhumane captivity. In light of the timing of the vandalism, we are working to install that signage sooner rather than replacing the flag for only a short time.\u201d<\/p>\n The Weitzman, founded in 1976, is dedicated exclusively to the American Jewish experience. A private nonprofit supported largely through donations, it moved into its current home in 2010: a 100,000-square-foot building designed by architect James Polshek. Its location on Philadelphia\u2019s Independence Mall places it alongside the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, situating the story of American Jewry within the nation\u2019s broader founding narrative.<\/p>\n The museum\u2019s core exhibition spans more than three centuries, from colonial Jewish life to contemporary debates over identity and belonging. Artifacts include George Washington\u2019s 1790 letter pledging religious freedom to the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island; and materials documenting Jewish roles in the labor movement, civil rights activism, the arts, and popular culture. Temporary exhibitions have included a memorial about the Nova music festival<\/a> massacre, as well as artifacts<\/a> from the 2022 Colleyville, Texas, synagogue hostage crisis.<\/p>\n Last year, both the House and Senate passed bills<\/a> to explore making the museum part of the Smithsonian Institution. President Joe Biden signed it into law<\/a> in Dec. 2024, and created a commission to study the issue. Its current status is as an affiliate of the Smithsonian.<\/p>\n The back-to-back incidents have been unsettling, especially given the Weitzman\u2019s location in one of the city\u2019s most prominent civic corridors. Tourists walking between the Constitution Center and Independence Hall passed cleanup crews trying to wash away the latest red paint.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAugust 26, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"Free](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/forwardingthenews.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1029-scaled.jpg\")
Inside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Photo by Benyamin Cohen<\/p>\n