ISTANBUL – A Turkish synagogue was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti days after holding its first prayer service in 65 years, the Turkish daily newspaper Today’s Zaman reported.

“Terrorist Israel, there is Allah” was painted on the external walls of the Istipol Synagogue, located in the Jewish neighbourhood of Balat in Istanbul.

“Writing anti-Israel speech on the wall [outside] of a synagogue is an act of anti-Semitism,” Ivo Molinas, editor-in-chief of Turkish Jewish newspaper Şalom, told Today’s Zaman.

Molinas said that “widespread anti-Semitism” in Turkey “gets in the way of celebrating the richness of cultural diversity in this country.” He added that the Turkish-Jewish community has no connection to Israeli political policy.