Graffiti stating 'free Gaza' and 'save the kids' on Auckland's Beth Shalom Progressive Synagogue. Photo: Supplied
An Auckland Jewish community centre's fence has been vandalised overnight, with an attempt to set it on fire.
Pro Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on the fence of the Beth Shalom centre in Epsom on Tuesday night.
A neighbour said she saw two small fires, one on either side of the fence, but they did not take hold.
Google maps wrongly lists the property as being the Israeli Consulate.
Epsom MP David Seymour lives nearby and said he was on his way home last night shortly after the incident.
"I noticed the police and the graffiti and I stopped and could smell a lot of petrol and neighbours told me they had had to call the fire department," he said.
"Obviously this is highly distressing."
He was back today helping to clean the graffiti off the fence.
The incident was disturbing to both the Jewish community as well as those living nearby, he said.
Seymour said he understood why people were upset by what was happening in the Middle East.
"But you are not going to help a single person in Gaza by terrorising innocent people in New Zealand and this is completely unacceptable," he said.
Police said the incident happened at about 9pm.
They were back speaking to neighbours on Wednesday and asked anyone in the area who had CCTV footage to contact them.
