Antisemitic hatred defaces children’s playground, exposing normalization of Jew-hatred in post-October 7 New York.
Two teenagers were arrested Thursday after allegedly spray-painting dozens of swastikas and other antisemitic messages across a Brooklyn playground heavily used by Jewish families, according to the New York City Police Department.
Authorities launched a hate-crime investigation after nearly five dozen symbols were discovered late Wednesday morning at Gravesend Park in Borough Park. Vandals scrawled swastikas across walls, a basketball court, and a children’s slide; one wall was defaced with the name “Adolf Hitler,” an unmistakable threat aimed at Jewish residents.
City crews removed the graffiti only after police documented the scene and confirmed the incidents were being treated as hate crimes. The Anti-Defamation League reported this was the second consecutive day antisemitic symbols were found in the same park. Earlier in the week, more than a dozen swastikas were discovered on the playground and handball court.
On Thursday, officers arrested two 15-year-old boys in connection with the attacks. One was charged with aggravated harassment and criminal mischief as a hate crime; the second faces multiple counts of aggravated harassment.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the vandalism, stating he was “sickened” by the targeting of Jewish children and families and pledging solidarity with the community. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the acts “depraved,” stressing there is “zero tolerance” for antisemitism—especially in spaces meant to be safe for children.
The incident is part of a broader surge in antisemitism across New York since October 7, 2023. NYPD data released last November showed Jews were victims in 62% of all reported hate crimes that month. On the day Mamdani won the mayoral election, swastikas were sprayed on Magen David Yeshiva. Weeks later, graffiti reading “F**k Jews” appeared in Cobble Hill, and in December a Jewish man was stabbed in broad daylight in Crown Heights, an attack police are investigating as antisemitic.
Spray-painting Nazi symbols on a children’s playground is not “mischief”; it is ideological intimidation. When Jew-hatred is excused, minimized, or politicized, it metastasizes—moving from walls to people. Enforcing the law decisively is the minimum required to protect Jewish life and restore basic civic decency.
