Park Service partners with human rights group to counter anti-Semitic graffiti in Breezy Point

Vandals scrawled white nationalists symbols into the sand in Belle Harbor days after anti-Semitic vandals defaced the Silver Gull Beach Club in Breezy Point. Photo obtained from a source.

By Jonathan Sperling

Almost three months after hateful vandals scrawled anti-Semitic messages and racial slurs on the walls of a Breezy Point surf club, a group of human rights advocates and officials from the National Park Service are unveiling a model plan aimed at countering future instances of hate.

Gateway National Recreation Area, Ortega National Parks and the Simon Wiesenthal Center will speak at the Silver Gull Beach Club, located at 1 Beach 193rd St. in Breezy Point, at 11 a.m. today.

Vandals scrawled “gas chamber,” anti-Semitic messages and other racial slurs on the walls and playground at the Silver Gull, a private beach club, during Labor Day Weekend. The graffiti, smeared in red paint, forced the Silver Gull to close its playground. 

Two days after the incident at Silver Gull, beachgoers in nearby Belle Harbor encountered more anti-Semitic messages dug into the sand. The messages included specific white nationalist slogans, including “white pride” and “14/88.”

“I was horrified and disgusted to learn of not only one, but two incidents in our community this weekend where Nazi imagery and anti-Semitic graffiti were discovered,” local Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato wrote on Facebook at the time of the incident. “The fact that these images were discovered means that there is a systematic attempt to intimidate this community.”