A Jewish New York congressman was targeted by pro-Palestinian vandals who painted graffiti messages on his office. This marks another incident in which anti-Israel activists have used violence and vandalism in support of Hamas.
The incident was reported on Friday.
Rep. Dan Goldman’s office in Brooklyn was vandalized overnight.
Workers discovered the vandalism just before 9 a.m. at his office on 9th Street in Park Slope.
Vandals painted “Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza Live,” among other messages.
The graffiti has since been cleaned up.
“Our office is accessible 24/7 by appointment, phone, social media, email, or mail, and our incredible constituent services team works around the clock to respond to outreach,” communications director Simone Kanter 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.”
The vandals wrote “Blood on ur hands” on the office as well. The NYPD’s 78th precinct, which has been responding to graffiti at other sites in the area, informed the congressman about what happened at his office.
These guys need to learn that we will never let terrorism win.
Just curious if all Congressional offices were targeted, or just the Jewish ones like @RepDanGoldman? pic.twitter.com/NvHLZKmg4U
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— Yaakov (Jack) Kaplan (@JackKaplanNY) November 17, 2023
Security footage showed at least two people defacing the building. However, the perpetrators covered the camera with a plastic bag, which made the images unclear. Simone Kanter, Goldman’s communications director, condemned their actions.
“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 Democrat representing New York’s 10th Congressional District, which covers Lower Manhattan and a large swath of western Brooklyn. He has expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself as well as the plight of Palestinian civilians. He has participated in pro-Israel rallies but has also criticized violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.
Since the current war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, there has been a rise in incidents involving antisemitism all across the country. These range from physical attacks to threats of violence. An extremist pro-Hamas group called Within Our Lifetime has been linked to hate crimes against Jewish Americans.
New York City, in particular, has seen a rapid rise in antisemitic acts.
Antisemitism is on the rise around the world and in the United States, and new numbers out of New York City show that Jewish people are increasingly the target of hate crimes in the Big Apple. Statistics released Wednesday by the NYPD show that in October 2022, there were 22 anti-Jewish incidents, but in October of 2023, that number surged to 69, an increase of 214 percent.
Although these numbers might not seem huge, note what RedState’s Brandon Morse wrote in 2020: “The amount of antisemitic hate crime in New York is off the charts compared to the frequency of others.”
In addition, it’s highly likely that many, many more incidents of antisemitism are simply not being reported. Pro-Hamas graffiti and vandalism have been rampant since Hamas carried out the October 7 terror attacks against Israel, which killed at least 1,400 Israelis.
The vandalism of Goldman’s office, combined with the overall uptick in antisemitic crimes in New York and elsewhere underscores the volatile situation that has arisen from the Israel-Hamas war. Tensions in the Western world have increased and the pro-Hamas lobby has taken full advantage of the situation to push its agenda through violence and other means.
