Police are searching for four suspects accused of vandalizing several Jewish institutions and residences in Queens with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti early Monday morning, the New York City Police Department told JNS.
“Multiple locations had been spray-painted with black and red paint with swastikas,” an NYPD spokesperson said.
Among the sites targeted was Congregation Machane Chodosh, an Orthodox synagogue in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin visited the synagogue with city council members Phil Wong and Lynn Schulman, vice-chair of the Jewish Caucus.
“When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community,” Menin wrote. “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.”
The Rego Park Jewish Center was also defaced, with a swastika and the word “Hitler” painted in red.
“I’ve seen the images of the hate crime outside the Rego Park Jewish Center, and it’s absolutely unacceptable,” Wong stated. “There is no place for this kind of hatred in our community.”
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, noted that “these were not just synagogues, homes and Jewish centers. One of the sites houses a pre-K program, where young children, their families and staff were greeted with swastikas and other hateful vandalism.”
“This is not normal, and we need city leaders to act now,” he wrote.
Antisemitic incidents have accounted for a significant share of reported hate crimes in New York City in recent years, with repeated cases of swastika graffiti in Queens and other boroughs.
