FOREST HILLS, Queens (PIX11)– A show of solidarity as the Jewish community in Queens searches for solutions following several antisemitic incidents in Forest Hills and Rego Park.
A rally was held Tuesday evening at the Congregation Machane Chodosh on 108th Street. It is where one of five swastikas was spraypainted around 1:30 Monday morning. Surveillance video shows that there are three to four people responsible.
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New York City Comptroller Mark Levine said, “To do this here, on this house of worship, to this community is disgraceful beyond words.”
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin spoke about the need for buffer zones around schools and houses of worship during protests.
One of her bills was vetoed by Mayor Mamdani. Menin also spoke about the need for education in schools, adding “studies show that 34-percent of young people believe the Holocaust was a myth, or was exaggerated.”
Rabbi Yossi Mendelson, with the Congregation Machane Chodosh, is pushing for what he calls a “mindful minute of meditation” at the start of every school day in New York City Public Schools. He said, “Each student is invited to take a moment to meditate, reflect, or pray according to their heritage and their tradition to nurture their own moral integrity.”
The NYPD has not released the surveillance images of the people suspected of the vandalism. There have been no arrests.
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