August 9, 2024 | 5 Av 5784
Candlelighting 8:07 p.m. | Havdalah 9:08 p.m. | Vol. 67, No. 32 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Perpetrators of antisemitic vandalism could be charged with hate crimes, district attorney says
Fighting with light
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Lenda volorei non re nus Keeping Jewishciendi Pittsburgh safe
Meet retired police Lieutenant Eric Kroll Et odictiumqui andae amusam Page 2 LOCAL si de net voloritat quistium Growing Judaism in Greenfield Page X
By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
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officer was injured. When Gainey arrived at the scene, he said, he saw a picture different from the one he had been led to believe. The mayor said he was told the crowd consisted mainly of professional protesters, and while it was true that the encampment was largely populated by those people, the protesters around the camp were mainly students, he said. He spoke with five representatives from the camp — a reverend, a Jewish student, a Palestinian student, a Jewish professor and a community activist — making clear that he was not negotiating the protesters’ demands, which were mostly focused on the university. “I told them that they had an opportunity to go back to the encampment and talk to the leaders and explain to them, ‘They’re coming in. There’s SWAT outside. You’ve got all three government forces and police outside. There’s no way this is going to end good,’” Gainey recounted. The mayor told the protesters that if they left, he would provide escorts and guarantee their safety. Please see Gainey, page 10
Please see Vandalism, page 10
Photo courtesy of Dan Gilman
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A copycat recipe BOOKS
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From Western Pennsylvania to Israel Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati ntibus.
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A flag football coach’s journey Page 16
Mayor Ed Gainey: It’s all about safety By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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ittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is guided by a simple maxim: Everyone should be safe in the city of Pittsburgh. It’s a principle he believes his administration has worked to realize in neighborhoods like the South Side and Downtown, where crime spiked before Gainey and the Pittsburgh police were able to stem the tide. “Homicides are down 27% in the last year,” Gainey told the Chronicle in a July interview. “We’re down 14% in nonfatal shootings.” The goal, the mayor said, is to have no one get hurt in any Pittsburgh neighborhood. Gainey was motivated by that goal earlier this year when he worked with his administration and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato to end the anti-Israel encampment at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. “If I could avoid someone getting hurt or anything terrible, I wanted to do that,” Gainey said. He decided to meet with protesters when the situation at Pitt escalated and a police
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aw enforcement officials are taking the recent antisemitic vandalism at Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh “extremely seriously” and are prepared to charge the perpetrators with crimes that could warrant jail time. During an Aug. 3 news conference at Pittsburgh Police Zone 4 headquarters, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said he believes the defacement of Chabad and the Federation on July 29 is “hate speech,” and the crimes include elements of ethnic intimidation at the state level. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Eric G. Olshan also is considering federal charges, Zappala said. On July 29, vandals marked Chabad with an inverted red triangle, a symbol used by Hamas to target Israeli military sites. Chabad was also defaced with the words “Jews 4 Palestine.” A sign outside the Federation linked the umbrella Jewish institution with funding “genocide” and included the words “ Jews, hate Zionist.” The vandalism followed several incidents of antisemitic graffiti around Pittsburgh since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel. Zappala said that officials were looking at “a series of five different incidents involving vandalism on its face,” including last week’s defacement of Chabad and the Federation. He considers the most recent graffiti messaging an “escalation in hate in
Scores of supporters attended "Fight With Light," a solidarity pre-Shabbat gathering on Aug. 2 at Chabad of Squirrel Hill, in response to the antisemitic vandalism that occurred on July 29. Several elected officials came in support, including City Controller Rachael Heisler, City Councilpersons Erika Strassburger and Paul Klein, and state Reps. Jessica Benham, Abigail Salisbury, Dan Frankel and Nick Pisciottano. Also in attendance were Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht and former Mayor Bill Peduto.
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