Vandals Steal Over 1,2000 Israeli Flags From October 7 Church Memorial

Five unidentified-individuals stole roughly 1,200 Israeli flags from an Alaska church Friday after the congregation placed them outside to commemorate the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to church officials and an Anchorage Police Department incident report.

Mountain City Church in Anchorage placed the flags on its lawn Thursday and planned to keep them up through Oct. 7, pastor Cody Anderson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Surveillance footage captured five unidentified-individuals crossing the street shortly after 1:00 a.m., pulling the flags from the ground and eventually loading them into a pickup truck, according to church officials.

“At 1:03 am, Friday, five guys parked in the apartments across Northern Lights and walked across the street,” the police report stated. “They ran around and collected all of the Israel flags that the church put out Thursday afternoon.”

Mountain City Church in Anchorage placed the flags on its lawn Thursday and planned to keep them up through Oct. 7, pastor Cody Anderson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Surveillance footage captured five individuals crossing the street shortly after 1:00 a.m., pulling the flags from the ground and eventually loading them into a pickup truck, according to church officials.

Cody said the church received the flags from an organization called Flags of Fellowship and erected the display to remember those killed in the Oct. 7 attack.

“They send 1,200 Israeli flags to support or to remember what happened in 2023, October 7th in Israel, the massacre that happened,” Cody told the DCNF.

The church estimated the value of the roughly 1,200 flags at $1,500.

The church also intended the display as a statement of support for Israel, Cody said.

“Just that we stand behind Israel, knowing that they are God’s chosen people,” Cody told the DCNF.