Brooklyn playground vandalized with swastikas two days in a row
Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime
Playground equipment and walls were vandalized with swastikas at Gravesend Park in Brooklyn twice this week. Courtesy of Community Board 12
By Hannah Feuer January 22, 2026
A Brooklyn playground frequented by Orthodox Jewish families was graffitied with swastikas two days in a row this week.
On Tuesday, 16 swastikas covered the walkways and play equipment at Gravesend Park, which is in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The next day, vandals covered the same playground with 57 swastikas and the words “Adolf Hitler,” according to police.
Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime. No arrests have been made.
Borough Park is home to 46,000 Jewish adults and 50,000 Jewish children, and 45% of households in Borough Park include a Jewish person, according to UJA-Federation of New York.
The graffiti drew widespread condemnation from New York leaders.
“A depraved act of antisemitism. In a children’s playground where our kids should feel safe and have fun. There is no excuse,” Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on X. “There is zero tolerance. I’ve directed the New York State Hate Crimes Task Force to offer assistance to the NYPD in identifying those responsible.”
Antisemitic incidents accounted for 57% of reported hate crimes in 2025, according to the NYPD, while Jewish New Yorkers make up 10% of the city’s residents.
“I am sickened by this antisemitic vandalism in Borough Park,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted to X. “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.”
Mamdani’s anti-Zionist stance unsettled many Jewish New Yorkers during the campaign. His first few weeks in office have drawn concern as well after he revoked executive orders, on his first day, issued by former Mayor Eric Adams prohibiting city employees from boycotting Israel and implementing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which classifies most anti-Zionism as antisemitic. He also issued a delayed condemnation of chants of “we support Hamas here” outside a Queen synagogue event promoting real estate development in Israel.
Julie Menin, New York’s first Jewish speaker of the City Council who is expected to be a guardrail on Mamdani, introduced a five-point plan to combat antisemitism last week. She plans to speak at Gravesend Park at noon.
“I’m disgusted by this antisemitic graffiti in Borough Park — painted onto a playground, of all places,” Menin wrote on X.“Abhorrent behavior such as this, reported on a near-daily basis, shows why our plan and legislation are so urgently needed.”
