DAVENPORT, Iowa — Update as of December 10th:
The Muslim, Jewish and Christian community came together on Sunday, December 10th, to build the new play structure.
Original Story:
Jewish and Muslim faith leaders in the Quad Cities are responding to acts of hate, following what they believe are anti-Muslim incidents that happened in Bettendorf.
Rabbi Linda Bertenthal of Temple Emanuel and Congregation Beth Israel in Davenport described one of the acts, which happened in a Bettendorf family's backyard. "Someone entered their premises and completely destroyed their children's play structure," she said. "To have someone do that against what belongs to the children, would make me feel like my children were at risk, were being threatened."
Bertenthal said she worries about that kind of act, as the Israel-Hamas War has reignited fear of hate crimes in the community. "We've seen scenes that remind us of the time of the Holocaust. I know people who are considering at this time, 'who would hide me if it comes to that?' which just makes me very sad," she said.
Lisa Killinger, outreach coordinator for the Muslim Community of the Quad Cities in Bettendorf described another suspected hate act found when a mother returned to her car. "When she came back out, there was a Barbie doll that had been dismembered with hand cut off, an arm cut off, and the arm jammed through Barbie's eye. And then a bunch of speech of 'you can run, but you can't hide,'" Killinger said.
Bertenthal and Killinger believe both situations are hate acts because of how the families were dressed, and both acts happened close to Oct. 7 when the Israel-Hamas War first started. "We want to stand out firmly together as people of faith who are against hatred in our community," she said.
Now there's talks of new ways to bring people together. "We would like to do a true peace vigil where we stand together as people of faith to encourage an end to the war and an end to the death of civilians especially," Bertenthal said.
Bertenthal added that both incidents have been reported to the Bettendorf Police Department and their own contacts with the FBI.
The FBI's latest hate crime statistics report found that there were a total of 11,000 hate crimes reported in the US in 2022. Approximately 1,100 were antisemitic, and around 160 were anti-Muslim.
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