A building housing Jewish-owned businesses “in the heart” of the north Manchester Jewish community was vandalised overnight by anti-Israel activists.
Rico House in Prestwich was targeted to coincide with Nakba Day, Arabic for “catastrophe”, by anti-Israel protest group Palestine Action.
Along with red paint thrown across the building’s entire front face, windows, and entrance, the words “Happy Nakba Day” was graffitied on an external wall.
The office block is owned by a Jewish company and leases out offices inside to businesses that includes a jeweller and a property management firm.
Taking responsibility for the act, Palestine Action claimed they targeted “the Manchester-based landlords of Elbit [System’s] Bristol headquarters”, the Israeli defence contractor company.
Raphi Bloom of Northwest Friends of Israel said Palestine Action “has come into the heart of the north Manchester Jewish community, literally to our doorsteps, in order to intimidate a community which is already feeling intimidated due to regular hate marches and increased antisemitism.”
In a statement, the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region, the representative body for the city and surrounding regions’ Jewish community, said: “Those responsible for such appalling vandalism are seeking to intimidate the Jewish community.
“We will not tolerate our community being targeted by antisemitic vandals who are using the Middle East conflict as a cover to attack Jewish people across the country.”
The Community Security Trust (CST) said it was “appalled by the vile paint attack against a mainly Jewish office block in north Manchester. We have been working closely with the police and the location, doing our utmost to help identify the antisemitic vandals and to give security support.”
Palestine Action also targeted a building in Edinburgh today that it claimed is used by a financial services firm with links to Israel. “Our actions won’t stop until the Nakba does,” Palestine Action said.
