Swastikas found in Queens parks, one week after similar incident
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More swastikas were found spray-painted in Queens a week after another incident of antisemitic graffiti. Photo via City Council Speaker Julie Menin/X
By Ryan Schwach
Several swastikas were found spraypainted in two Queens parks on Monday, a week after antisemitic graffiti was sprawled on a synagogue and a Jewish Center in the borough.
Local officials reported Monday that several swastikas were found in Forest Park and in the area around the Highland Park Reservoir, the latest in a string of similar incidents.
At least 11 swastikas were found, City Council Speaker Julie Menin, local Councilmember Joann Ariola and Queens Councilmember Lynn Schulman, who co-chairs the Jewish Caucus, said.
“This is yet another hateful incident meant to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers and divide our city,” the three councilmembers said in a joint statement on social media. “And we want to be clear: We cannot and will not accept this as normal.”
They said the NYPD was investigating and the Parks Department would remove the graffiti as soon as possible.
Police told the Eagle that five swastikas were found in the vicinity of Highland Boulevard spraypainted over signs, objects and pavement. A few hours later, six more were found under an overpass near the Forest Park playground.
No arrests have been made.
“Our Jewish New Yorkers deserve safety and dignity in every corner of our city, including right here in Woodhaven," said State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “Together, we will face antisemitism head on with resolve, hold people responsible for their actions, and protect our community from all forms of hate.”
The incident comes exactly a week after swastikas, the word “Hitler” and other antisemitic messages were spray painted on several buildings and homes in the Queens neighborhoods of Forest Hills and Rego Park, not far from Forest Park.
Those messages were found outside a prominent synagogue in Forest Hills over a monument to Holocaust victims, and at the Rego Park Jewish Center.
“This is not something to be dismissed or handled on a so called case by case basis,” Congressmember Grace Meng, Menin, Senators Joseph Addabbo and Leroy Comrie, Assemblymembers Sam Berger and Andrew Hevesi, and Schulman and Councilmember Phil Wong said in a statement following that incident. “This is hate plain and simple. The continued rise in attacks against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable and has reached a critical point. Our communities deserve action, accountability, and protection.”
Police are seeking four suspects in that incident, all of whom were caught on security cameras and are described as young light-skinned men. Three of the suspects were wearing hoodies at the time of the vandalism.
