Swastikas and Hate Graffiti Strike Long Island
— Several incidents of red spray-painted swastikas and other hate incidents have been reported in neighborhoods on Long Island, New York.
Police are investigating the incidents in the suburban neighborhoods through Dec. 16 as hate crimes, the New York Daily News reported. Among the places where the incidents occurred are the towns of Merrick and Mineola in Nassau County, about 30-35 miles outside New York City.
Among the incidents, a sidewalk outside a private home was vandalized with multiple red swastikas and “Make America White Again,”and swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti were painted on a wall outside a 7-Eleven in Merrick.
Swastikas were drawn in the snow in Merrick and Mineola on Sunday, according to reports.|
In addition, several swastikas were discovered by a professor at the Nassau Community College campus in Garden City on Friday, on top of swastikas drawn in campus restrooms earlier this month as well as on three separate occasions in October.
“We have seen quite a concerning uptick in swastika vandalism across New York State,” Evan Bernstein, ADL’s New York regional director, said in a statement issued Monday. “Unfortunately, Nassau County is the latest in a string of incidents. While these attacks are most likely not connected, we see that Long Island towns are not immune to such disturbing acts of hate. It is incumbent upon community and religious leaders and Nassau County leadership to forcefully denounce these manifestations of hate whenever and wherever they surface.”
New York City police have reported a 400 percent increase in such incidents since the Nov. 8 presidential election.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
