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

(DoD Photo by Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz)(Released)

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.

Church security director Serge Duchatellier told the DCNF the five individuals appeared to park across the street from the church before entering the property and taking the flags.

“Five guys, individuals, decided to park across the street from our church and then came in and started taking the flags out of the ground,” Duchatellier said. “They took them and ran off with them.”

The group repeatedly gathered flags and carried them back toward the pickup truck, Duchatellier said.

“They were collecting the flags. They ran back to their vehicle across the street, which was a truck, dumped them in the bed there, and then ran back and was just collecting all the flags that we had set out,” he told the DCNF.

Cody said security footage did not capture a readable license plate because of the distance and darkness.

“We just know that it was a pickup truck,” Cody said. “It was too far away to see what the license plate is.”

A church staff member later recovered a wallet and driver’s license from the area where the flags were stolen, according to Duchatellier. The license was turned over to the Anchorage Police Department.

Duchatellier said the recovered wallet also contained an address, additional identification, credit cards and bank cards.

The church, however, could not establish that the person identified from the license was among the five individuals captured on surveillance footage taking the flags, Duchatellier said.

“The only part, though, that I hesitate is because I can’t actually prove he did it,” Duchatellier told the DCNF.

The police report provided to the DCNF did not identify any suspects and was listed as pending approval.

“One thing that I do want to make sure people know is we didn’t back down,” Cody told the DCNF. “We actually got more flags, planted 1,200 flags again the following night.”

Cody said the organization that originally supplied the flags overnighted another set after learning what happened. Members of the congregation and the church security team then remained outside to monitor the replacement display.

“We told them, you know, if something happens, if somebody comes by, call the cops, don’t engage,” Cody said. “Let the cops do their job.”

Duchatellier said the surveillance footage showed the individuals acting in a way that appeared “very juvenile,” though he said the church could not positively identify them from the footage.

Cody said he was unsure whether the theft was motivated by antisemitism or another motive.

“I’m not exactly sure if it was anti-Semitic or hate or what it was,” Cody told the DCNF. “But yeah, you could tell that their goal was to remove all of them.”