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'Jews not welcome' graffiti found at Bethesda high school

For the second time in a month, Montgomery County Police are investigating antisemitic vandalism in the community.

BETHESDA, Md. — The Montgomery County Department of Police is investigating antisemitic graffiti found at a high school in Bethesda Saturday morning.

Around 8 a.m., officers were dispatched to Walt Whitman High School on Whittier Boulevard in Bethesda, Maryland for the report of antisemitic graffiti spray-painted on the school's sign board out front.

The sign, which has since been cleared, read "Jews not welcome."

Ninth-grade student Rachel Barold at Walt Whitman reached out to WUSA9 after receiving an email from her principal regarding the incident. 

She says she was with other students at the time the email hit her inbox.

"We all opened our phones at the same time and you could hears kids saying 'oh my god' check your emails. Everyone was in shock about what happened," said Barold.

She claims the graffiti comes directly after a school lesson on the Holocaust.

Barold said a petition for the Holocaust lesson was started after Jewish students at the school began noticing their other classmates genuinely did not know what it was.

Barold said this should never be happening, adding that Whitman has issues with xenophobia.

"People are forgetting and it's scary because if you don't remember what happened, history repeats itself," said Barold.

Barold is helping to organize a walkout on Thursday, December 22 with the group Jews4Change at Whitman to draw awareness to the issue.

Police are still trying to identify suspect(s) in this case. There is currently no one in custody. 

This incident represents the second time in a month the Montgomery County Department of Police is investigating antisemitic vandalism in the community.

On November 14, antisemitic graffiti was discovered on Bethesda Trolley Train.

The investigation into this incident is active and ongoing.

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