On Oct. 8, 2023, Junior Tara Hain and her family hung an Israeli flag and yellow hostage ribbons right outside her house, on 16th Street in Washington D.C. Since then, the flag, house and ribbons have been vandalized a total of ten times.
Following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, Tara and her family wanted to demonstrate their support for Israel by draping an Israeli flag on the railing leading to her front door. Local members in Washington, D.C. have cut or spray painted the flag. Some vandals even left messages such as “Free Palestine” or “Genocide” and other anti-Israel sentiments.
Despite the vandalism, Tara and her family always put a new flag or ribbon up, displaying their refusal to be intimidated by hate, according to Tara.
“The first time it was ripped down, we had a family discussion about it, and we came to the consensus that putting away the flag is just letting the people win,” Tara said. “That is just backing down. So the strong and right thing to do would just be to hang it back up.”
Even though the Hain family has contacted the police each time the flag is vandalized, authorities have not been helpful advocating for protection against the damage, according to Tara. Since they did not have any security cameras, the police are unable to start an investigation locating the perpetrator. However, the police have reported the incident as a hate crime and the Hain family has now bought security cameras. According to Tara, the only action taken thus far has been power washing their sidewalk.
One police officer said that the Hain family should have expected an incident like this to happen since their flag may have been provocative. According to Tara, the officer implied that the Hain family was “asking for it” to happen.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld, Head Rabbi at Ohev Shalom Congregation, the synagogue the Hain family belongs to, believes that the Hain family has shown persistence in the situation they have faced.
“It is really regrettable that people have to express their feelings in a limited way and are getting taken away,” Wolkenfeld said. “Hanging flags is a very American quality and they [Hain family] should represent it by showing their Israeli flag. The pushback received was truly unfortunate.”
Since Tara’s house has been targeted ten times for vandalism, she says that she has gotten used to the environment and doesn’t feel unsafe.
“I think if these people were any real threat, they would have broken in,” Tara said. “Instead, they just ripped my flag. It was shocking to me that I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 13 years and my neighbors and people that live near me have just been vandalizing my house. That’s a little bit of a harsh realization; a tough pill to swallow.”
Despite all the negativity, Tara believes that something positive has come out of the situation. Tara and her family have received many letters and flowers from the local Jewish community, who showed their support and gratitude to the Hain family for representing Israel and showcasing resilience.
Tara’s family has also received new Israeli flags to hang up after a flag gets vandalized. Additionally, a neighboring Iranian family came by their house once to share their condolences for the vandalism.
The Hain family’s main takeaway from the experience are the connections and alacrity that have been presented from not only the Jewish community, but the wider Washington, D.C. community as well.
“I think that the support came from a lot of different ways,” Tara’s mother Ariele Mortkowitz said. “Not just people from shul, but mostly from strangers who we didn’t know as well. There was so much more good and kindness shown by strangers.”
