Kitchen Design by Idan

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A Maryland man is facing hate crime-related charges after police say he targeted a Jewish-owned, Israel-supporting business with a late-night vandalism attack.

Baltimore County Police arrested 39-year-old Jonathon Wagner in connection with the destruction of property at Kitchen Designs by Idan on Falls Road earlier this week, authorities announced. 

Investigators said the store owner had displayed Israeli flags outside the business, which the vandalism was directed toward.

Kitchen Design by Idan

Kitchen Design by Idan

Facebook via Caren Shalom Levin

Police said the attack happened just before midnight on Aug. 6, when red paint was splattered across the walkway, the front door, and both the Israeli and American flags outside the storefront.

The incident happened on owner Idan Tzameret's 42nd birthday. 

"While things like what happened today are shameful, smiling is the best weapon... So I smile, and I look at my kids, I look at my wife, I look at my friends, I look at my beautiful home and I smile even bigger," he wrote.

Photos from the scene show paint dripping down the door and soaking into the flags.

“This wasn’t random. This wasn’t just ‘vandalism.’ This was targeted. This was antisemitism. This was hate — loud and clear,” wrote Caren Shalom Leven, a friend of the business owner, and Executive Director of the Baltimore Zionist District, in a Facebook post reacting to the damage.

"To those responsible: you messed with the wrong GUY," she continued. "HE will not cower. HE will not be silenced. HE is stronger, louder, and more united than ever before." 

Facebook via Caren Shalom Levin

Sure enough, Wagner has been apprehended.

He is charged with multiple counts of malicious destruction of property, including one count based on race/religion, according to police.

Wagner is scheduled to appear in Towson District Court in October.