Multiple shuls and Jewish residences in Queens’ heavily-Jewish Forest Hills neighborhood were defaced with swastika graffiti overnight.

The Shmira neighborhood watch group reported that vandals spray-painted swastikas on at least one residential garage and on the Congregation Machane Chodosh shul. The desecration targeted the shul’s building at a particularly sensitive location-a cornerstone dedicated to survivors of Kristallnacht, the devastating 1938 Nazi pogrom against German Jews widely recognized as a precursor to the Holocaust.

Photographs documented additional antisemitic graffiti at the nearby Rego Park Jewish Center, where vandals spray-painted “Heil Hitler” on the structure.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin visited the vandalized sites, witnessing the scope of the destruction firsthand. She described the emotional impact on residents and worshippers.

“When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community. When a family woke up, they were prepared to begin an otherwise normal week. Instead, they were met with terrifying signals of hatred and threats of violence,” Menin said in a statement.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)