- Vandals hit multiple homes and religious sites across Queens with antisemitic graffiti.
- Congregation Machane Chodosh, founded by Holocaust refugees, was among the five locations targeted.
- New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and other officials condemned the acts; NYPD seeks four suspects.
Vandals scrawled swastikas and Hitler graffiti on multiple homes and religious sites across Queens in an antisemitic spree on Monday – including a synagogue started by refugees fleeing the Holocaust.
At least four people spray painted swastikas in red and black on the sides of at least five locations across the world’s borough, according to city leaders and law enforcement sources.
The rabbi for Congregation Machane Chodosh in Forest Hills, which was hit by the hateful graffiti, called it “very upsetting” and noted the synagogue was actually formed by German-Jewish refugees who reached the Big Apple to escape Nazism.
“The rabbi who founded our synagogue was himself a German refugee and dedicated the synagogue to the memory of the synagogues that were destroyed in Germany and the Jews who were murdered for being Jewish,” Rabbi Yossi Mendelson told The Post.
“The street is named Holocaust Memorial Corners so it feels so much more significant that this happened, it brings up our history and reminds us that we have to stick together and we have no choice but to lean into our identity and celebrate it.”
The swastika at Congregation Machane Chodosh was etched on its street-facing façade and partially over an plaque memorializing the Jewish communities who were killed during the Holocaust, said Mendelson.
The vandals also targeted the Rego Park Jewish Center, with two homes and a car damaged by the graffiti, law enforcement sources said. The NYPD only confirmed multiple locations were hit.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the first Jewish speaker in Big Apple history, said police were seeking at least four suspects.
“When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community,” Menin wrote on X.
“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 released by her office showed black swastikas spray painted on a garage door and window with red circles around them.
Menin visited Congregation Machane Chodosh with Council members Phil Wong and Lynn Schulman.
A slew of other elected officials — including Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul — condemned the antisemitic graffiti.
“This is not just vandalism — it is a deliberate act of antisemitic hatred meant to instill fear,” Mamdani said on X.
Hochul said on X that the New York State Police are working with the NYPD to help crack the case.
Mendelson said the congregation has surveillance footage that it has turned over to the police.
If suspects are identified, Mendelson hopes he’s able to have a conversation with them.
“And to educate them about what they’re standing against and hopefully we can get them over to the good side,” he said.
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