Manhattan Sukkah Vandalized With ‘Free Gaza’ Graffiti
A sukkah in New York City’s Upper East Side was defaced with the words “Free Gaza,” WABC reported Monday.
The anti-Israel message was spray painted three times on the sukkah in Carl Schurz Park on Sunday morning. The hut, where meals are eaten to commemorate the holiday of Sukkot, was vandalized a day before Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday that marks the end of the yearly cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of a new one.
“It’s a slap in the face. What does it bother you? I mean, the Jewish community is celebrating, it’s really very vicious,” Rabbi Ben Krasnianski, director of Chabad of the Upper East Side, told WABC. “There is no room for this hatred in New York City.”
The message was gone by Sunday afternoon and replaced with peaceful phrases, such as “Shalom and “Sukkah of Unity,” according to the New York Post.
The vandalism being investigated as a possible bias incident. There will be a “Demonstration of Jewish Pride” in front of the Chabad house on Monday evening, according to WABC.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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