Two teenagers have been arrested after dozens of swastikas and antisemitic messages were spray-painted across a playground in Brooklyn, New York, in an incident police are investigating as a hate crime. The vandalism targeted a public space frequently used by Jewish children and families, reports Israel National News.
According to the New York Police Department, officers launched a hate-crime investigation after nearly 50 swastikas and other antisemitic symbols were discovered late on Wednesday morning at Gravesend Park in the Borough Park area. The graffiti appeared on walls, playground equipment, a handball court, and a slide. One wall was defaced with the words “Adolf Hitler.”
City workers later removed the graffiti, but only after police documented the scene as part of the investigation. The Anti-Defamation League noted that this was the second consecutive day antisemitic vandalism had been found at the same location. Earlier in the week, more than a dozen swastikas were discovered in the playground and surrounding areas.
On Thursday, police arrested two 15-year-old boys in connection with the incidents. According to NBC4, one of the teenagers was charged with aggravated harassment and criminal mischief as a hate crime, while the second faces multiple counts of aggravated harassment.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the vandalism, describing it as a disturbing act of antisemitism. “Antisemitism has no place in our city,” he said, adding that he stood “shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish New Yorkers who were targeted.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul also denounced the attack, calling it a “depraved act of antisemitism” and stressing that there is “zero tolerance” for hatred, particularly in places where children should feel safe.
The incident comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in New York City since the Hamas-led assault on Israel on 7 October 2023. According to NYPD data released shortly before the city’s mayoral election in November, Jews were the victims in 62% of all reported hate crimes that month, with 29 antisemitic incidents recorded out of a total of 47.
Antisemitic vandalism and violence have continued since then. On the day of the election, swastikas were sprayed on the Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn. Nearly two weeks later, graffiti reading “F**k Jews” was found on a sidewalk in the Cobble Hill neighbourhood. In December, a Jewish man was stabbed in broad daylight in Crown Heights in an attack police are also investigating as potentially antisemitic.
Photo Credit: Community Board 12
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