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Police are investigating a vandalism incident that left an ice cream shop with pro-Palestinian graffiti and broken windows as a hate crime, according to the chain's Jewish owner.
"Last week, on October 25, 2023, our flagship ice cream shop in the heart of the Mission District was vandalized, badly damaged, and plastered with graffiti," Smitten Ice Cream owner Robyn Sue Fisher wrote on her company's site. "The graffiti suggests that the shop was targeted because I am Jewish, and it is currently being investigated by authorities as a hate crime."
The officers who responded to the ice cream shop's alarm found the store's windows shattered, San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officer Gonee Sepulveda told Fox News in a statement. "FREE PALESTIEN [sic]" was spray-painted on the shop's window, according to Mission Local, a San Francisco-based outlet.
"Smitten's mission is, and has always been, to spread joy," the chain wrote on Instagram last week. "We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support."
"Our San Francisco (Valencia Street) location is closed right now," the post continued. "We hope to spread more joy soon."
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The store's windows and two doors were draped in plastic and shards of glass were scattered along the pavement and inside the shop following the vandalism last week, Mission Local reported.
"We cannot know what was in the mind of the unknown individual or individuals who inflicted this severe damage to our store," Fisher wrote Tuesday.
The SFPD statement said the business was "vandalized for unknown reasons."
Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, there have been nearly 200 antisemitic attacks directly related to the Israel-Hamas war, according to Anti-Defamation League data.
So far, more than 9,900 people have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. At least 1,400 Israelis have been killed were killed in the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, and, according to Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 8,525 Palestinians have died from the Jewish state's retaliatory attacks.
DOZENS ARRESTED OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE DURING PROTEST OVER ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
FROM THE DEADLY DESERT RAVE TO THE FRONT LINES, ISRAELI RESERVE SOLDIER RECOUNTS CONCERT MASSACRE
Fisher has sold ice cream in San Francisco for over a decade, according to the shop's website. She originally began selling ice cream out of a Radio Flyer wagon she pulled around the city.
The chain now has locations in San Francisco, San Jose and Las Vegas.
"When I learned what happened at the store and saw the shattered and graffitied glass, I initially felt only fear and deep sadness," Fisher wrote. "We cannot choose how others treat us, but we can choose how we respond."
Customers line up outside Smitten Ice Cream in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California, 2016. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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"I choose love," the shop owner continued. "Now more than ever."
No arrests have been made as of Wednesday, according to SFPD, and the investigation is ongoing.
Fisher did not return a request for comment.
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