Several Jewish people living in Germany reported that their homes were marked with a Star of David, according to a German news report and social media posts.
German news outlet Bild reported that a woman, whose name was not given, found the Star of David imprinted on her apartment building door in a Berlin neighborhood last week.
“I was sitting in the car with a friend yesterday,” she told Bild. “When we got home I saw the Star of David and got a huge shock.”
She told the news outlet that she called the police to report the graffiti, who reportedly told her to remove it herself. The woman and her friend doused it in acetone and scrubbed it off the door.
She said it’s obvious that she’s Jewish because she has a mezuzah, a rolled-up metallic parchment with prayers inscribed on it, affixed to her doorpost.
“Anyone who is familiar with it can see at first glance who lives here,” she said.
“I speak Hebrew, make phone calls in Hebrew and wear a Star of David,” she added. “I really thought about staying home. I’m scared because I can’t assess the level of escalation.”
Another woman, identified as Yael, said she saw a Star of David on a building by her house, which she often passes as she drops her son off at school.
“It is a punch to the gut,” she said, according to the Times of Israel.
Yael said the inscription has her questioning her and her son’s safety.
“And my children are in a completely public system, they speak German, most of their friends are Germans, not Israelis,” she said. “We don’t live in a neighborhood where we tell the children to not speak Hebrew, but it has come to that.”
News of the defacement comes as tensions between Israeli and Palestinian forces continue to rise following a surprise attack on Israel carried out by Hamas militants, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,300 people, mostly civilians. They also carried an estimated 150 Israeli captives back to Gaza, the narrow strip of land that’s controlled by Hamas.
Since the attack, Israel promised a swift and deadly response and declared a “total siege,” cutting off power to Gaza. An estimated 1,800 Palestinians living in Gaza have so far died from Israeli airstrikes on the region.
The tension has reverberated globally, igniting protests around the world.
In London over the weekend, thousands of protesters rallied in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians who are under attack by Israeli forces.
Protests have also been occurring en masse across the United States, most notably at college campuses. At a pro-Palestinian rally at the University of Washington, for example, Jewish students were caught on camera pleading with school administrators to shut the protest down.