Dozens of swastikas painted on playground in Jewish area of Brooklyn prompts hate crime investigation

Tape sections off a playground in Brooklyn, New York, on January 22 after it was painted with dozens of swastikas. (Credit: WABC via CNN Newsource)

Dozens of swastikas were painted on a playground in a predominantly Jewish area of Brooklyn, New York, in two separate incidents this week, prompting a hate crime probe, the New York Police Department said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on X called the vandalism “a depraved act of antisemitism,” which comes during an extended period of such threats to the city’s Jewish community.

Officers responded on Monday to a call at Gravesend Park in the southwest Brooklyn neighbourhood of Borough Park, where they found about 16 swastikas painted in red on slides, walls and the ground.

Then on Wednesday, police responded to another call and found about 57 swastikas drawn at the same playground in red, blue and yellow. “Adolf Hitler” was also scrawled in paint.

The NYPD’s hate crimes task force is investigating both incidents. No arrests have been made, the NYPD said.

The Brooklyn Community Board 12, which represents the area, posted photos of the vandalism on X.

The vandalism comes amid a general rise in antisemitic incidents over the past few years, particularly since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. There were 576 hate crime incidents in New York City last year, with about 330 targeting Jews, according to NYPD data.

The Borough Park neighborhood is home to about 46,000 Jewish adults and 50,000 Jewish children, and about 45 per cent of households there include a Jewish person, according to a 2023 study from the nonprofit UJA-Federation of New York.

New York political officials condemned the vandalism and pledged an investigation in a series of statements.

“I am sickened by this antisemitic vandalism in Borough Park,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “Antisemitism has no place in our city, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish New Yorkers who were targeted.

“My administration is working closely with the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force as well as our Parks Department, and those responsible will be investigated and held accountable.”

Hochul similarly said she directed the state’s Hate Crimes Task Force to offer assistance to the NYPD.

“A depraved act of antisemitism. In a children’s playground where our kids should feel safe and have fun. There is no excuse. There is zero tolerance,” she wrote.