Shocked commuters on Falls Road in East Baltimore County on Thursday morning snapped photos of the aftermath of vandalism the night before that targeted an Israeli-owned kitchen renovation business.

Red paint dripped down the front door and windows of Kitchen Design by Idan, and an Israeli flag flying next to the entrance was drenched in red paint above the lawn of the business.

The Israeli flag display, “it’s not to offend people,” owner Idan Tzameret said. “I want to cheer people up. It’s for my own heart and soul. It’s not going to reach everyone’s soul, and that’s fine.”

He said he welcomes legal demonstrations outside his property and welcomes anyone who would like to decorate their property in support of Palestine.

“But it’s not fine when people destroy my business,” Tzameret said. “That’s a pure hate crime and will be treated as such.”

Hate incidents have been on the rise in the United States since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

It was triggered by Hamas-led militants storming into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel responded with an air and ground campaign that has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, leveled vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine.

Video camera footage at 11:58 p.m. from Tzameret’s ring doorbell shows a man, in a blue T-shirt, shorts and Crocs, approaching the front door of the shop holding what appears to be a can of red spray paint and placing a sticker to obscure the camera lens.

Tzameret said he reported the vandalism as a hate crime early Thursday morning.

Baltimore County Police were on scene for hours, collecting evidence for the crime lab to conduct an investigation of what they are calling a “bias related incident.”

“Here we go again,” was the first thing Tzameret said came to his mind upon hearing about the vandalism.

This wasn’t the first time that his property has been tampered with, he said.

About a year ago, someone spray-painted a swastika on one of the Israeli flags. Earlier this year, he had to remove posters pasted on his backyard fence that called for “ending the genocide” and the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader has been unyielding in his prosecution of the war, expanding it over 22 months and recently drawing criticism for a plan to take over all of Gaza.

After every act of vandalism, Tzameret said, he only ever felt encouraged to add more Israeli flags.

Tzameret moved to Baltimore when he was 23, after finishing mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Forces. A graduate of Towson University, he went on to work in home improvement, later opening Kitchen Design by Idan in 2018.

The business serves clients across Maryland and is located on a busy thoroughfare along Falls Road, hugged by Bonjour Bakery and the Lake Falls Village shopping center.

Jonathan Hoory stopped by Idan’s around 10 a.m. to drop off a new Israeli flag. Since Oct. 7, 2023, he said, he smiles every time he and his 9-year-old son pass the store’s display of large Israeli and American flags.

“I’m glad my son wasn’t with me today,” said Hoory, whose family is Israeli. “This is one step below Jewish blood being spilled in any community.”

Along Falls Road, others who have displayed Israeli flags have experienced vandalism this summer.

Azi Rosenblum is a homeowner off of Old Pimlico Road whose front lawn, since November 2023, has displayed the names and photos of hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas attack a month earlier.

Red paint has been sprayed on his property, and the signs have been destroyed. During Passover, a brick wrapped in a paper with “Zionism = Nazism” and “Israel is a Terrorist State” written on it was thrown through his window.

“When you press that button, I go the other way,” Rosenblum said. Every time his property is vandalized, he said, he adds another Israeli flag to his front lawn.

“I won’t hide who I am,” said Rosenblum, who was born in Israel and moved to Baltimore when he was 10 years old. “If it costs me a window and some flags, so be it. People need to be brought home. That’s more important to me.”

John Parkerson, an occupational therapy doctor with an office near the Village of Cross Keys, said he has experienced frequent vandalism of Israeli flags displayed alongside a Scottish flag and a United States flag outside his office.

While Parkerson isn’t Jewish, he said he felt compelled in November 2023 to show support for Jewish people by displaying an Israeli flag.

While many American Jews have relatives in Israel and are concerned about its security, many also remain frustrated about the anger and pain gripping the region.

Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue, a historic Orthodox synagogue near Druid Hill Park, was defaced with the words “Free Pal” in June.

Howard Libit, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, said this summer’s acts of vandalism reflect rising antisemitism in Baltimore since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s military campaign.

Libit received photos from friends who drove by Kitchen Design by Idan on Thursday morning. “It was awful and disgusting,” Libit said. “If people have objections to Israel and what Netanyahu’s government is doing, let’s have a reasonable, thoughtful conversation about it.

“But to destroy other people’s property repeatedly is intolerable. It’s not the way we operate as a society,” Libit said. “It shouldn’t be.”

Tzameret spent Thursday, which also happens to be his birthday, fixing the damage to his business, starting with removing a $500 front door decal covered in red paint that advertised information about his business.

“I’m very surprised it doesn’t happen more often,” Tzameret said of the vandalism, given his display of several large Israeli flags on the property.

He says his mom, who lives in Israel, is worried and has asked him to take down the flags. Knowing that his support for his birthplace has lost him business, Tzameret said, “It’s the price I’m willing to pay.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.