Police tape (file photo).
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
A swastika — one of the most recognizable symbols of hate — was found scrawled on the side of a vacant storefront located at a busy intersection in Brooklyn on Friday, prompting immediate condemnation from both the community and local leaders.
The incident, which police are investigating as a hate crime, is only the latest in a rising, alarming trend of antisemitic attacks across New York City.
The offensive graffiti was found on the facade, near the entrance, of a vacant storefront at 16 Court St. in Brooklyn Heights on March 13. It appeared to have been created with a blue marker or similar substance and was about the size of a baseball. The swastika is associated with Nazism and the murder of millions of Jews and others during the Holocaust.
JoAnne Wasserman, who lives nearby in Carroll Gardens, was in the area with her friend Janet Heit when both women spotted the horrifying scrawl Friday afternoon.
“As we approached it, my friend let out a little gasp,” she said. “We had walked a little past it, so we backed up and she pointed to it, and then I gasped.”
Wasserman took photos of the offensive graffiti and immediately called 911. She left her phone number with the dispatcher in case the police needed more information.
Hours later, Wasserman received a phone call from an officer who was at the location, accompanied by someone from the building, but they could not locate the graffiti. Frustrated the next day, Wasserman contacted Council Member Lincoln Restler, whose office represents Brooklyn Heights, and told him what she and Heit saw.
A swastika — a symbol of hate — was scrawled on the side of a vacant storefront in Brooklyn on March 13, 2026.JoAnne Wasserman
By Saturday, the swastika was still visible, according to Restler, who called the city’s sanitation department (DSNY) to have it removed.
The council member was outraged over the incident and underscored the importance of speaking out against antisemitism. He was also grateful to Wasserman and the community for reporting the hateful vandalism and to the DSNY for quickly removing it.
“This hits close to home for me, as I grew up a couple blocks away and attend synagogue around the corner,” Restler told amNewYork. “There has been an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents in Brooklyn Heights, just like across the city as a whole. We must do everything in our power to combat and stomp out this hate.”
Hate crimes increase in New York City
In January, the number of bias incidents investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force increased by 152% (58 vs. 23). Specifically, anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by 182% (31 vs. 11). Anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for more than half of hate crime incidents reported in January this year.
Year to date, hate crimes also increased nearly 32% compared to 2025, according to the latest police data. It was not immediately clear how many of those incidents were anti-Jewish.
Friday’s incident was not the first time swastikas were found on property in Brooklyn in recent months. In November, surveillance footage showed a suspect terrorizing the borough by spray painting the signs of hate on Jewish landmarks.
The incidents prompted a response from Gov. Kathy Hochul at the time.
“Our community was assaulted by an individual so depraved of heart, so cruel and insensitive that they would dare to violate sacred spaces, a cemetery, a center, and a school where children from preschool to 12th grade were gathering just in a few hours,” Hochul wrote on social media in response to the attacks.
amNewYork contacted Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office for comment on the graffiti incident and hate crimes continuing to rise, and is awaiting a response.