Ruth Mastron, the president of the House of Israel, announced online that she is closing the doors of the international cottage in Balboa Park indefinitely after two vandalism incidents occurred this week.
Someone broke a window at the House of Israel on Tuesday night. The president said she had to make the difficult and unprecedented decision to close until further notice.
"After a day of reflection, consultation and soul-searching, I’ve concluded that we cannot guarantee the safety of volunteers, neighboring houses and visitors," she wrote online. "I could not live with myself if anyone were to be harmed because I failed to take the painful and unprecedented but necessary decision to close the House of Israel until further notice."
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Nobody was at the cottage when the incident occurred. San Diego police told NBC 7 they are investigating the incident and are not ruling out hate crime charges. Nationwide, there have been an increase of antisemitic incidents and rhetoric since the deadly attacks in Israel by Hamas in early October.
"It's terrible," Rabbi Yael Ridberg from Congregation Dor Hadash said. "I mean what a beautiful part of Balboa Park to give every country an opportunity to teach about its history, its people, its culture, its customs. And for the House of Israel to have to close because, in this moment, the anger has spilled over into a very local and beloved place is really heartbreaking. It just compounds the grief. It compounds the feelings of insecurity of concern."
Ridberg says many members of her congregation are concerned about their own safety and security, especially since there was already an uptick in antisemitic incidents in San Diego over the last year. Earlier this summer, San Diegans found leaflets around several neighborhoods targeting Jewish Americans and depicting antisemitic propaganda.
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"To whom do we turn? Who is a safe person? Where is a safe place if the House of Israel in Balboa Park is not a safe place to visit, to celebrate Jewish and Israeli culture? Where is? And that's a question that I don’t have an answer to yet," Ridberg said.
