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The Butcherie in Brookline was vandalized when a brick that said “Free Palestine” was thrown through a window with a map showing Palestine as part of Israel.
A Jewish grocery store in Brookline was vandalized early Sunday morning when a brick that said “Free Palestine” was thrown through the business’s window, police said.
The Butcherie, a kosher grocery store, is located on Harvard Street in a stretch of Jewish businesses near Coolidge Corner, including Kupel’s Bakery, the Kosher Wok, and Israel Book Shop. It’s about a block away from Congregation Kehillath Israel, a traditional, conservative synagogue.
Brookline Police Chief Jennifer Paster called the incident “a disturbing act of hate and anti-Semitic vandalism.”
“Free Palestine” was written in large, red letters across the brick, Paster said.
“This was not simply an act of property damage, and it is not plainly vandalism. This was a targeted, hateful message meant to intimidate a Jewish-owned business and our broader Jewish community,” Paster said.
The investigation shows that at least two people wearing masks walked down Coolidge Street, threw a brick through the storefront window, and fled the way they came, police said.
Police noted that no other businesses appear to be targeted. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
The Butcherie shared an image of the brick, saying the perpetrators are using political slogans “as a cover to spread intimidation and hatred.”
“This was not a statement of protest, it was an attack on the Jewish community,” the store wrote on Facebook. “This was not about policy or politics. It was an act meant to threaten, to isolate, and to target us for who we are.”
The business did not respond to requests for comment from Boston.com.
Gili Zilberberg, one of the owners of the Butcherie, spoke to the Daily Wire in front of the damaged window. The brick appeared to have been thrown through a window displaying a map of Israel.
“I’m third generation, this has never happened in the Butcherie history,” he said. “This is a nonpolitical statement, here,” he said, referring to the map of Israel showing wines produced in the region.
The winery map depicts the West Bank and Gaza, both Palestinian territories, and the Golan Heights in Syria as part of Israel. A nearly identical map to the one on the Butcherie’s window is part of a “Sip for Solidarity” campaign launched to donate funds to Israeli relief efforts in 2023, according to the St. Louis Jewish Light.
The Golan Heights is a demilitarized buffer zone in Syria that Israel annexed, partly in 1981 and then the rest in 2024 after the fall of the Assad regime. While President Donald Trump recognized it as part of Israel in 2019, the international community considers it Israel-occupied Syrian territory.
Showing those territories, which are Israeli-occupied, as part of Israel is controversial as the nation continues to cause a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, killing at least 52,000 people, according to the British Red Cross.
Dozens from the Jewish community rallied in front of the store Sunday afternoon, chanting and waving Israeli and American flags, according to WCVB. David Pearlman, a Brookline Select Board member, spoke to the crowd.
“The event that occurred here last night is horrific. It’s a stark reminder that we deal with antisemitism right here in Brookline,” Pearlman said, according to the news station.
Governor Maura Healey called the attack “deeply concerning and totally unacceptable.”
“We stand with our Jewish neighbors against antisemitism,” she wrote. “Everyone deserves to live, pray and do business without fear in Massachusetts.”
The Anti-Defamation League New England, a pro-Israel advocacy organization, said the brick-throwing incident is the “latest in a string of attacks on the Jewish community where the words ‘Free Palestine’ were used to weaponize violence against Jews.”
“Holding a Jewish business accountable for the situation in the Middle East is antisemitic, plain and simple and is another example of the radical anti-Israel activity resulting in violence against the Jewish community,” ADL New England Regional Director Samantah Joseph wrote. “Everyone must condemn this appalling attack.”
Anyone with any information, including relevant surveillance video, is asked to call Brookline police detectives at 617-730-2711 or their non-emergency line at (617) 730-2222.
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