Several synagogues and homes in the New York borough of Queens were vandalized overnight Monday with swastikas, according to the city council speaker.
On Monday, Julie Menin, along with other city council members including Lynn Schulman and Phil Wong, visited Congregation Machane Chodosh, one of the sites targeted in Forest Hills.
In a statement online, Menin said: “When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community. When a family woke up, they were prepared to begin an otherwise normal week. Instead, they were met with terrifying signals of hatred and threats of violence.”
Photos shared online showed black swastikas spray-painted on synagogue walls, a garage door with the symbol circled in red, and what appeared to be the window of a nearby residence.
Menin said she and the other council members visited multiple vandalized locations and are in contact with police, who are investigating and searching for at least four individuals. She added that the graffiti will be removed once the investigation is complete.
The Guardian has contacted New York police and the office of Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor, for comment.
In January, two teenagers were arrested and charged with hate crimes after dozens of swastikas were found painted on a playground in Brooklyn.
After that incident, Mamdani condemned the vandalism, saying he was “sickened by this antisemitic vandalism,” adding: “Antisemitism has no place in our city, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish New Yorkers who were targeted.”
