Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY – Vandals sprayed a swastika on a Holocaust awareness billboard in New York City on Thursday, amid concerns of surging antisemitic crime in the region.
Two swastikas were scrawled onto a bus stop in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood, home to a large concentration of Jewish residents.
One of the symbols was sprayed on a billboard sponsored by the advocacy group JewBelong. The sign sought to raise awareness of antisemitism and its connection to the Holocaust, part of a campaign by the group called “End Jew Hate.”
The Borough Park Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood safety group, released security footage showing a woman defacing the bus stop and said the New York Police Department’s hate crimes unit was searching for the culprit.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in response to the incident, “We stand with our Jewish neighbors in the face of antisemitic hate. Hate will never win.”
This individual is #Wanted by @NYPDHateCrimes, for spraying #Hate graffiti on a @MTA bus shelter on 18th Avenue and 60th Street this morning. If you identify her, please call @NYPD66Pct detectives 718-851-5603 and #Shomrim 718-871-6666. #StopTheHate pic.twitter.com/kERAaTi03J
— 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐫𝐢𝐦 (@BPShomrim) May 5, 2022
New York State Attorney General Letitia James said, “Disgusting, hateful acts of antisemitism cannot and will not go unchecked in New York.”