Jewish leaders have said growing anti-Semitism in New York has reached a breaking point, with some likening it to the rise of Nazism in the 1930s.
On Tuesday night, hateful vandals splattered red paint on the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s director and Jewish trustees.
At least two houses were daubed with the red triangle symbol used by Hamas to mark assassination targets.
“What good is that going to accomplish if you’re on the board of the Brooklyn Museum and you allow people to spray paint their homes? That’s what the Nazis did in the 1930s,” said Michael Nussbaum, former president of the Queens Jewish Community Council.
Mark Treyger, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, called anti-Semitism in New York a “crisis” and an “emergency.”
“In 2024 we are witnessing the Nazi strategy come to fruition,” Treyger told The Post.
“There is a concerted effort to disassociate Jews and Jewish identity from our schools, curricula, universities, museums, hospitals, institutions and everyday life – a tactic employed by the Nazis in the 1930s,” he added.
Matthew Schweber, a lawyer for the Columbia University Jewish Alumni Association, said the actions of the city’s pro-Palestinian movement were “a modern-day manifestation of the Ku Klux Klan.”
“These protests constitute targeted harassment and incitement to violence and are not protected by the First Amendment,” Schweber said.
Brooklyn City Council Member Ina Vernikov, a Jewish Republican, said the city “died into a crisis of anti-Semitism a long time ago.”
“It’s a scary time to be Jewish,” she said.
As with the protests, demonstrators feel emboldened to resort to bolder action, she said.
“What’s next? Are we going to see Jews killed in the streets?” she said.
Other disturbing acts seen this week included a pair of anti-Israel protesters yelling “Live October 7th” in Union Square, a masked anti-Israel protester demanding that all Zionists get off the subway, and a provocateur who told Jews “I wish Hitler was still here” and that Nazi leaders “would have exterminated you all.”
“The protesters are chanting ‘No Zionists,’ which means no Jews,” Vernikov said. “The Jews will leave New York.”
“They will go to Israel,” she continued, “which is why we need to support Israel. Because of weak leadership, anti-Semitism is now on full display before our eyes.”
