ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Staff with Mountain City Church said more than 1,000 Israeli flags were stolen from their lawn early Friday morning.
Serge Duchatellier, Director of Security with the church, said he and other staff members placed around 1,200 Israeli flags on their lawn on Thursday.
In a video shared with Alaska’s News Source, four individuals can be seen being dropped off by a truck, which turned into a nearby neighborhood as they began collecting the flags.
After a few minutes, the truck arrived back in front of the church. The individuals placed the collected flags in the back of the truck before going to collect more.
After around fifteen minutes in total, all the flags had been taken from the lawn. The individuals climbed back into the truck as it drove away.
According to Duchatellier, the flags were set up to commemorate the October 7th, 2023, attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group. 1,219 Israelis were reported to have been killed during the attack.
Since the attacks, 73,419 Palestinians are reported to have been killed by Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The conflict in the Middle east has spread to include other nations, including Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.
“A lot of folks on staff assumed somebody was going to try to do something,” Duchatellier said.
“We didn’t know exactly what they would do, but we felt that they might try to do something, maybe kick them down or things of that nature. We weren’t really expecting them to all be taken.”
Duchatellier said the flags were also set up in advance of a planned sermon on Sunday that would discuss what the church felt the Bible said about Israel.
“How should Christians feel about Israel?” Duchatellier said.
“Not necessarily do we support the things that are occurring within their government right now, but just as a general consensus, how should we feel?”
While Duchatellier said a report has been made to police, it has been difficult to identify the individuals or vehicle involved.
However, based on the security footage, he believes the individuals are younger, possibly around high school age.
“Based on their demeanor and the way that they’re acting, as cars are driving by, they’re hiding behind trees and behind rocks, trying not to be seen,” he said.
Despite the controversial subject matter, Duchatellier said he does not feel that the incident was spurred by antisemitism or other forms of bigotry.
“It appears to be not necessarily malicious vandalism,” he said.
“It’s vandalism, nevertheless, and theft, but more so something that’s done by younger people versus maybe somebody with an ill intent per se.”
Duchatellier said he and staff plan to replace all the flags stolen before Sunday.
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