(New York Jewish Week) — The Brooklyn office of Rep. Daniel Goldman was defaced with pro-Palestinian graffiti, as antisemitic crimes surge in New York during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Vandals scrawled the phrases “Blood on ur hands,” “Free Palestine,” and “Let Gaza live” in red and white paint on the facade of the Jewish Democratic congressman’s office on 9th Street in Park Slope, as well as on the sidewalk in front of it.
A spokesperson for Goldman said a staffer arrived at the office around 8:50 a.m. Friday morning to find police already on the scene.
The NYPD’s 78th precinct told Goldman’s office that officers had been responding to graffiti at a couple of other sites in the area when they discovered the vandalism on the congressman’s district office, and that police were looking into the incident.
Security footage showed at least two people defacing the building. However, the perpetrators put a plastic bag over the camera so the images were unclear, Goldman’s office said.
“Harassing, intimidating, and outright attacking the staff of a Jewish elected official at a time of rising violence and rampant antisemitism is dangerous and unacceptable,” said Goldman’s communications director, Simone Kanter.
Goldman is a moderate Democrat who represents New York’s 10th congressional district, which covers Lower Manhattan and a large swath of western Brooklyn.
He has been vocal about the war since it began on Oct. 7, and has expressed support for both Israel and Palestinian civilians. In recent weeks, he has spoken at a rally in support of Israel; joined other Jewish Democrats in censuring U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib for using the term “from the river to the sea”; called to protect Palestinians in the U.S. from being deported to a conflict area; expressed support for the release of Israeli hostages and for humanitarian pauses in the fighting; and condemned violence by Israeli settlers.
The NYPD and Jewish security groups have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents since Hamas attacked Israel six weeks ago. In New York, the incidents range from graffiti to physical attacks and threats of violence.
On Thursday, posts by a radical pro-Palestinian group urging its 121,000 followers to target the offices of Jewish organizations with protests drew alarm from elected officials and Jewish community leaders. The group, Within Our Lifetime, calls for a “global intifada” and the destruction of Israel, and activists affiliated with the organization have been imprisoned for hate crimes against Jews.
In the posts, the group shared a map of Jewish organizations in New York City, saying they had “blood on their hands,” echoing the language used in the graffiti on Goldman’s office.
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