An Omaha resident came home this week to find a hateful message spray painted on his fence, now Omaha police are investigating whether the graffiti amounts to a hate crime.
Whether it will be classified as a hate crime is up the Criminal Investigations Bureau. From there it's passed on to the FBI if it meets all the criteria.
The homeowner, Chris Baker, said he feels the message is wrong and he wants whoever did it to clean it up.
"To me that's a cowardly act, for you to just come and spray my fence, especially with young kids around here, and you're going to do that, what if these kids can read that?" he said.
The graffiti used foul language and read 'genocide.'
Baker believes his home was targeted because it borders Beth Israel Synagogue.
"It's kind of wrong, especially with the Jewish community that's around here, they're pretty nice people," he said.
As of Friday morning, the message sits partially covered.
Rabbi Ari Dembitzer said he read it but doesn't believe his synagogue was targeted.
"If it was about the synagogue, I feel like the person would have just come and vandalize the synagogue," Dembitzer said.
He believes a flag on the homeowner's lawn reading 'In this house we stand with Israel' triggered the vandal.
Dembitzer said this behavior is uncharacteristic of Omaha.
"In Omaha, in the streets, I've only experienced support and love," he said.
Baker said even though his family isn't Jewish, they feel uneasy.
"We don't want any more like retaliation stuff happening, that's the biggest thing, use a different platform, don't spray paint somebody's fence to spread a message," Baker said.
Dembitzer said there is some concern for the synagogue and the community.
"It's concerning to know that people feel very strongly about something, to damage somebody else's property and then does that person have any limits?" he said. "Being a Jew for eternity, this is what we've experienced, and America has been a beautiful country and is a beautiful country to all ethnic minorities and it's not anything new. Whenever you go through something it's it reawakens a little fear, but it also reawakens a certain strength and endurance."
He said Jewish people won't let fear dictate how they live.
"Ultimately, we're a strong people and we have faith and in something larger than moments and something larger than fear and something larger than people who want to perpetrate evil," Dembitzer said.