The New York City Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating after four school buses serving Jewish schools in Brooklyn were defaced with antisemitic graffiti and swastikas on Monday morning.
Officers responded to the area of Bedford Avenue and Williamsburg Street West in the 90th Precinct shortly before 10 a.m., after receiving a report that “antisemitic writing and swastikas were spray-painted on four school buses,” an NYPD spokesman told JNS.
“There are no arrests at this time,” the spokesman said.
Photos of the vandalism show that the yellow school buses have the names of the yeshivas printed in Hebrew on the side, and graffiti including “f*** Israel,” “Free Palestine” and swastikas.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the vandalism “despicable” and urged anyone with information to contact law enforcement.
Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, condemned the incident as “a blatant act of antisemitism.”
“In Mayor Mamdani’s New York City, Jewish schools, synagogues and now even the buses that carry our children are being targeted with hate,” Spern told JNS. “Antisemitism continues to rear its ugly head and Jewish children should never have to board buses covered in Nazi symbols and anti-Israel hatred.”
He called on the NYPD to conduct a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be prosecuted.
“City leadership must finally take a clear stand against this rising tide of hate,” Spern told JNS.
Lincoln Restler, a member of the New York City Council who represents the district where the vandalism occurred, called the graffiti “truly obscene” and said he is working with law enforcement to “track down those responsible.”
“The decade-long rise in antisemitic incidents must be stopped,” Restler said.
