Mamdani, other New York leaders condemn election night swastika graffiti on NY yeshiva

Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, condemns swastika graffiti found on a Brooklyn yeshiva a day after he won the city’s mayoral election.

“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city. As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city,” Mamdani writes on X.

Before the election, the school required parents to prove they were registered to vote, amid Jewish community concern over Mamdani.

Mamdani has repeatedly condemned antisemitism in New York and announced plans to combat discrimination against Jews, even as his anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed swaths of Jewish New Yorkers.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York far more than any other group, with dozens of incidents typically reported per month, ranging from harassment to vandalism and assault.

The swastika graffiti stands out both because it targeted a school and due to the proximity to the election, with some local officials drawing a connection between Mamdani’s win and the incident.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Governor Kathy Hochul, and other elected officials condemn the vandalism.

The far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman wades into the incident, tagging Adams on X and asking what the mayor will “do about that?”

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