Queens’ Synagogues, Homes Tagged with Swastikas

A group of teens are believed to be responsible for a bunch of swastikas and pro-Nazi graffiti that turned up in Queens overnight. Spots targeted included two synagogues.

According to police sources, the string of incidents that occurred in Forest Hills and Rego Park during the early hours of Monday is being investigated as a hate crime. The investigation remains ongoing, with the 112th Precinct and the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force involved.

Much of the extensive hate speech was scrawled outside of the Rego Park Jewish Center located at 97-30 Queens Blvd., at about 1:16 a.m. on May 4; the dastardly acts were caught on the building’s surveillance camera.

In the footage, the group of four teenagers wearing hoodies could be seen sidling up to the building before spraying the hateful Nazi symbol and the name “Hitler” beside it.

Here’s some video of the graffiti and the suspects.

NEW: Swastika and “Hitler” vandalism tagged with spray paint on Jewish Center with a PreK seen on Monday morning in Rego Park, Queens NY.

| Licensing @FreedomNTV [email protected] pic.twitter.com/JWRO9NvXR6

— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) May 4, 2026

The speaker of the NY City Council posted a message condemning it.

Multiple synagogues and private homes in Queens were vandalized overnight with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti. @Lynn4NYC, @PhilWongNYC and I are at one of the sites, Congregation Machane Chodosh, in Forest Hills now.

When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this… pic.twitter.com/s38TXvFHQt

— Speaker Julie Menin (@SpeakerMenin) May 4, 2026

When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community. When a family woke up, they were prepared to begin an otherwise normal week. Instead, they were met with terrifying signals of hatred and threats of violence.

We have visited some of these locations and are in contact with the NYPD, which is investigating and searching for at least four individuals responsible for the terrible incidents. The graffiti will be removed once the investigation is complete. 

With antisemitism on the rise here and across the globe, we will always stand up for our Jewish community and fight back against hate.

Sen. Gillibrand also posted a statment.

I am horrified by this morning’s antisemitic graffiti in Queens. Targeting synagogues and Jewish homes is not just simply vandalism, but a hate crime meant to threaten and instill fear.

Jewish New Yorkers deserve to worship and live without fear of intimidation. This city cannot…

— Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (@gillibrandny) May 4, 2026

As did Gov. Hochul.

Swastikas on synagogues and homes is vile, targeted hate.@nyspolice are working with @NYPDnews to track down those responsible and will hold them fully accountable.

New York stands with our Jewish community. https://t.co/Jg1PVX2axq

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) May 4, 2026

And of course Mayor Mamdani.

I am horrified and angered by the swastikas painted on homes and synagogues in Queens, including on a plaque honoring survivors of Kristallnacht. This is not just vandalism — it is a deliberate act of antisemitic hatred meant to instill fear.⁰⁰There is no place for antisemitism…

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 4, 2026

I am horrified and angered by the swastikas painted on homes and synagogues in Queens, including on a plaque honoring survivors of Kristallnacht. This is not just vandalism — it is a deliberate act of antisemitic hatred meant to instill fear.

There is no place for antisemitism in Queens or anywhere in our city. I stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors. Their safety, dignity, and belonging are non-negotiable.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating and I am confident those responsible will be held accountable.

Of course it’s easy to shrug this off as teenagers acting like idiots which is not exactly a first in any part of America. But you still have to wonder why this specific graffiti at this specific moment. Somehow, these teens have absorbed the message that Jewish people deserve to be targeted and terrorized. I don’t think it’s terrible hard to see where they might be getting this sort of message these days because it’s everywhere, especially among young people.

The city has been full of “anti-Zionists” for years now, many of whom have been celebrated by the left. The only difference here is that these teens are too young and stupid to play the game where they pretend their views are about Israeli policy and not about Jewish people more generally.

Police believe the same group of vandals is responsible with leaving markers of hate at three other Forest Hills locations, including on the side of a car parked on 110th Street and 67th Drive; on the window of a house located at 67th Drive between 108th and 110th Streets; and on the garage door of a home on the 6700 block of 110th Street, which is owned by a Holocaust survivor. The senior could be seen standing outside his home on Monday afternoon, watching solemnly as it was washed away.

Local resident Tal Ronen told amNewYork that the vandalism is even more hurtful for him because his grandmother is a Holocaust survivor who made it out of the Auschwitz death camp.

“This is completely horrific. I mean, I live here. This is a Jewish neighborhood. Whoever came here and did this did so deliberately to antagonize and hurt the people. There is no two ways to look at it, it’s a hate crime,” Ronen said…

“[Mayor Mamdani] says he’s against antisemitism, but whenever something is put on his desk to actually combat it, he vetoes it,” Ronen said, referring to a bill that Mamdani said he would veto, Intro. 175-B, requiring the NYPD to establish protest buffer zones near schools. A similar bill, focused on setting up buffer zones near houses of worship became law last month, automatically more than 30 days after the City Council passed it; the mayor chose not to sign it.

Mamdani is great at putting out statements (it really is a solid statement) but I’m not sure he’s convincing the young people that he’s genuinely horrified by this. Given some of the repulsive statements made by his own wife and the pro-Hamas podcasters he’s hanging out with, I don’t really believe him either.

Editor’s Note: New York City is now facing the consequences of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist takeover.

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