Leading public officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, spoke out on Monday against the vandalism of two Jewish buildings in Pittsburgh targeted with antisemitic graffiti tied to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Chabad of Squirrel Hill were both defaced overnight, local authorities said, with spray-painted messages and symbols including an accusation of funding “genocide” and an inverted red triangle of the sort used by Hamas to identify targets.

In a statement to Jewish Insider, Seth Schuster, a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign, said that the vice president “condemns antisemitism in all forms, particularly in the neighborhood of the deadliest act of Antisemitism in our nation’s history.” 

He added that Harris “believes this kind of hate and discrimination has no place in the United States of America.”

The incidents come amid a rise in antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, including several instances in Pittsburgh — where a synagogue in the city’s heavily Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood was targeted six years ago in the worst antisemitic attack in American history.

“The Squirrel Hill community witnessed the deadliest act of antisemitism in our nation’s history at Tree of Life Synagogue,” Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat, said on Monday in a social media statement condemning the graffiti. “They should not need to wake up to antisemitic graffiti in their neighborhood. Vandalism of any type of house of worship has no home in our Commonwealth — and we must all continue to call it out and speak with moral clarity.”

In a statement to JI, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has also been outspoken against anti-Israel demonstrators, drew a parallel to what he called “the disgusting vandalism we witnessed in Washington, D.C.” last week during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, when protesters sprayed pro-Hamas graffiti and set fire to an American flag.

“It consistently reveals that antisemitism is at the core of a lot of these protests,” Fetterman said.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), meanwhile, said in a statement posted to social media that “vandalism is never acceptable, and the use of Hamas symbolism must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

“It is appalling, heartbreaking and completely unconscionable that a community already traumatized by violence would be subject to yet another explicit threat,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), a Jewish Democrat, told JI. “We must condemn all forms of antisemitism, xenophobia and hate, here at home in Pennsylvania and across our nation.”

Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), in comments to JI, denounced what he described as “reprehensible acts of vandalism in Pittsburgh over the weekend,” adding that such “actions are not only an attack on the Jewish community but also a violation of our shared values of respect and tolerance.”

“People of all faiths should be respected and protected in America,” Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) added in a statement to JI. “I condemn this vandalism and hope our community will continue to denounce antisemitism and hate in all its forms.”

For his part, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) called on Pennsylvanians to “stand and speak — strongly — with one voice against antisemitism.”

“Attacks or assaults based upon someone’s faith not only must never be tolerated or accepted, but must be gravely condemned and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Perry said in comments to JI on Monday.

A spokesperson for Pittsburgh’s Public Information Office said in an email to JI that local police detectives are “currently investigating” the two reported incidents, “including the possibility they are related,” but clarified that “there are no suspects at this time.”

Laura Cherner, the director of the Community Relations Council at Pittsburgh’s Jewish federation, said in a brief interview with JI on Monday morning that the organization is now “working with federal and local law enforcement to determine the actors.”