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Vandal sprays 19 swastikas on Jewish Community Center in Virginia

Posted at 10:10 PM, Oct 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-06 22:11:46-04

(CNN) — For the second time in 18 months, the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia was vandalized, police said Saturday.

David Yaffe, president of the center in Fairfax County, Virginia, said 19 white swastikas were spray-painted on the building early Saturday. Yaffe told CNN the community was shocked the first time, but is not shocked this time.

“This is getting to be a regular thing — it’s in the air around us, in the country around us,” Yaffe said. “There are expressions of support but they are tinged with fatigue. It’s hard to jump up and down when it happens that regularly and frequently. How much outrage can you sustain for that long period of time?”

Police in Fairfax County, about 14 miles west of Washington, said community center staff discovered the swastikas around 8 a.m. Saturday. Surveillance video shows a suspect spray-painting the building around 4:30 a.m.

“As many of us recognize, these acts do not represent the community around the J or the community in Northern Virginia,” community center officials said in a statement.