Pittsburgh police have intensified their presence in Squirrel Hill this week after vandals defaced 10 “We Stand With Israel” yard signs with images of bloody handprints. This incident is the latest in a surge of antisemitic activity in both Pittsburgh and the entire country.
The yard signs were vandalized on Monday and Tuesday in an area of one to two city blocks in the East End neighborhood, which is the heart of Jewish life in Pittsburgh, according to Shawn Brokos, who oversees security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Signs outside three homes were vandalized two nights in a row, according to residents.
Pittsburgh police stated that there are no suspects in the case.
However, plainclothes detectives are actively investigating the vandalism, as spokeswoman Cara Cruz informed TribLive on Wednesday. Police have also gathered video footage from residents’ homes.
Laura Cherner, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, commented that the bloody hand marks left on yard signs in Squirrel Hill are unequivocally antisemitic.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, a governmental group based in Berlin, mentioned one instance of modern antisemitism is “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel,” Cherner said.
“Jewish Pittsburghers should never be targeted or, quote/unquote, ‘held accountable’ for Israel’s actions,” Cherner added. “That is entirely antisemitic, if you’re blaming Jews here for what the Israeli government is doing.”
There have been 66 antisemitic incidents reported in Pittsburgh in 2024 — more than three times the 21 reported from January through March last year, Brokos mentioned.
In 2023, the number of antisemitic incidents reached 300, with over a third occurring after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, resulting in the deaths and injuries of thousands of civilians and sparking conflict in Palestine’s Gaza Strip.
There were 122 antisemitic incidents in 2022, 82 incidents in 2021, and just 27 in 2017, the year before 11 Jewish worshippers were killed in Pittsburgh during a Shabbat service on Oct. 27, 2018 at Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha synagogue, officials reported.
A jury the Squirrel Hill synagogue shooter was convicted in federal court last summer; he remains on death row.
“We expected it to be higher (in 2023) because of the synagogue shooter trial. We knew that would increase the numbers,” Brokos, a retired 24-year FBI veteran, told TribLive on Wednesday. “But we didn’t see Oct. 7 happening and what effect that has had on our Jewish community.”
Incidents on the rise
Incidents of antisemitism have been increasing locally and nationally for at least eight years, statistics indicate.
In 2022, there were over 3,500 antisemitic incidents in the United States, a 36% rise from 2021, according to the Anti-Defamation League. And, in 2023, there were at least 1,112 incidents of antisemitic propaganda, up from 852 a year earlier.
Since Oct. 7, the increase is even more pronounced, said ADL regional director Kelly Fishman, who monitors incidents in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
According to Fishman, antisemitic incidents increased by 360% in the three months after Oct. 7.
In 2023, ADL also reported a record number of 7,567 cases of white supremacist propaganda, which is a 12% increase from 2022.
Fishman mentioned that across the country, there continues to be vandalism such as swastikas on buildings and public property, similar to the incidents in Squirrel Hill.
She added that this situation can be scary for anyone, regardless of their religion.
In 2023, the Jewish security group Secure Community Network (SCN) responded to a significant 774% increase in swatting incidents and false bomb threats at Jewish institutions, totaling 1,005 incidents. They also referred a record 1,619 people to authorities for antisemitic activities.
SCN Senior National Security Advisor Brad Orsini stated that in 2024 so far, 423 individuals have been referred to law enforcement.
Orsini mentioned that in February, SCN's Chicago-based command center received 483 threats and reports of suspicious activity.
Hate has also affected American college campuses.
Hillel International and SCN documented a record 516 antisemitic incidents in 2023, a 141% increase from 2022. More than 60% of these incidents occurred after Oct. 7.
The number of antisemitic incidents on college campuses after Oct. 7 reached 1,172, a drastic increase from the previous year. post-Oct. 7 antisemitic incidents on college campuses hit 1,172, as of Tuesday, according to Hillel International. That’s seven times higher than the same period a year earlier.
In the first month of the war, Hillel International responded to 306 antisemitic incidents at 129 different U.S. campuses — 59 of them more than once.
Jews are not alone.
Since Oct. 7, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has received 3,578 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate, marking a 178% increase over 2022 figures.
About one in every complaints involved employment discrimination, while hate crimes and education discrimination accounted for 13% each.
‘Names can intimidate’
As a mother of five children, Mor Greenberg can personally relate to the emotions behind the numbers.
She was deeply disturbed when her 10-year-old son told her that someone had made fun of his yarmulke as he walked home from Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.
Greenberg, 35, of Squirrel Hill, expressed her concern about the increased need for vigilance since Oct. 7.
Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, CEO of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, is also familiar with these incidents.
He has heard about Yeshiva teens being taunted while walking from Squirrel Hill toward The Waterfront shopping center in Homestead.
Even on Murray Avenue, a central area of Squirrel Hill’s business district, the rabbi said people yell slurs at him from cars.
“Rosenblum said threatening things have occurred many times. The saying 'Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me' isn't true. Names can intimidate, especially young people.”
Rosenblum stated that he will not sit passively in the face of such attacks.
Yeshiva Schools’ armed security guards now work longer hours, and the schools recently finished a fundraising campaign to increase safety measures. They aimed to raise $600,000 in 36 hours; they ended up with $662,183 from over 1,000 donors.
“We assessed everything we were doing and ensured that our protocols and systems are top-notch,” Rosenblum said. “Our belief is we need to provide the protection and security — and God does the rest.”
Intensifying security
Yeshiva Schools is not the only Jewish institution that has boosted security.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh has collected more than $15.5 million since 2021 to finance security at Jewish institutions, spokesman Adam Hertzman said.
The federation received over $900,000 in 2023 in state security grants and provided an estimated $850,000 in security “in-kind services,” such as training people or working on security coordination, Hertzman said.
In terms of how Jewish institutions are reacting to increasing antisemitism, Pittsburgh is not alone, said Jeff Finkelstein, the organization’s CEO.
“The war brought out … incredible levels of antisemitism,” Finkelstein said.
Many have died in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Hamas militants attacked southern Israel Oct. 7, killing over 1,100 people, most of them civilians, and injuring thousands more in the largest killing of Jews since the Holocaust.
Hamas captured 253 hostages and later returned 105 of them during an eight-day cease-fire brokered by Egypt.
The number of Palestinians killed as Israel bombed Gaza surpassed 30,000 on Feb. 29, according to Palestine’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
About 240 Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons during the eight-day truce, the Associated Press reported.
Bloody red hands
The meaning of the images of bloody red hands on the Squirrel Hill yard signs remains unclear, said several people analyzing antisemitism.
Some said the bloody hands might reference Aziz Salha, a Palestinian photographed in 2000, during an uprising. He waved his bloody hands at a Ramallah police station after funeral marchers had broken in, and killed two Israel Defense Forces reservists.
The ADL has not officially accepted that correlation, said Fishman, the regional director based in Ohio.
Several celebrities, including musician Billie Eilish and actor Ramy Youssef, wore enamel pins bearing a red hand during the 2024 Academy Awards presentation earlier this month. The Hollywood Reporter and others suggested the pin represented a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
A group named Artists4Ceasefire took credit for the pin, saying its red background was intended “to symbolize the urgency of the call to save lives,” according to its website.
“We are here to lend our voices and our platforms to amplify the global call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the safe return of all hostages, and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza,” the group said online.
Fishman said the bloody hands could be an accusation, like when someone is blamed for something, or a reference to horror movies meant to create fear.
“It’s not something that will make you feel good,” she said. “A bloody hand? It's meant to make you feel scared or threatened, and I think that’s the intention.”
Cherner, the Community Relations Council director, said the bloody hands might also bring to mind thoughts of “blood libel” among Jews.
”Blood libel refers to the false accusation that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish, usually Christian children, for ritual purposes,” the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. said in its “Holocaust Encyclopedia.” The term comes from the Middle Ages and became popular in the 20th century, when Nazis used it to demonize Jews, the museum said on its website.
Chaya Engle, Yeshiva Schools’ chief compliance officer, said Pittsburgh Jews won’t be intimidated by antisemitism.
“There’s a lot of hate right now. There are a lot of reasons that parents are scared,” Engle said. “We just believe you have to be who you are and be proud of it. Because that’s the only way we’re going to get through this.
“We’re not going to be scared. We’re going to be proud.”
Pittsburgh police increased patrols in Squirrel Hill this week after vandals defaced 10 “We Stand With Israel” yard signs with images of bloody handprints — the latest in a spike of antisemitic activity in both the Pittsburgh region and nationwide.
