A shocking “art installation” featuring a mock street sign reading “[Expletive] Israel Ln” and a poster celebrating a “Hamas Lover” was discovered over the weekend on taxpayer-funded Governors Island—during a family-friendly event.

The unauthorized and hate-filled display, which included imagery praising terror groups and questioning Israel’s very right to exist, was set up inside Building 11, a space seasonally occupied by Swale, a food-forest nonprofit participating in the Trust for Governors Island’s artist residency program. Officials said the exhibit was installed without permission and was taken down within hours after being discovered.

“This was not subtle. Not metaphorical. Just hate—displayed at eye level in a family event space where children were,” said Kobi Lahav, a Manhattan father who came across the display while visiting with his family. Lahav, who is Jewish with Israeli roots, described the scene as “designed to celebrate violence, to romanticize terrorism, and to normalize calls for the destruction of a nation-state—all while the next house over was handing out Snickers bars.”

Among the inflammatory materials were a mock street sign labeled “[Expletive] Israel Ln,” a poster declaring it “beyond the pale” for Israel to exist, a drawing of a KKK hood marked with Israeli and American flags, and a “Hamas Lover” sign accompanied by a red triangle, a symbol often used by Hamas. Another image showed a flag representing Hezbollah, while a “Free Palestine” poster read “Abolish Israel.” Ironically, the outside of the cabin bore a sign that read “Revive Humanity Now.”

The Trust for Governors Island and Swale both issued condemnations, calling the incident a “deliberate and malicious act.” “Like many visitors, our team encountered this display and was personally affected by its content,” Swale said in a statement. “We share the community’s distress and stand with those who were harmed. It remains our duty to protect visitors and uphold standards in our spaces.”

The organization identified the artist as Rebecca Goyette, who they said was allowed into the space by a resident artist without authorization. Both Goyette and the resident have since been banned from the program. When approached by a New York Post reporter in Brooklyn on Tuesday, Goyette fled, shouting, “Get the [expletive] away from me, what are you doing.”

Mayor Eric Adams denounced the display, saying, “The Adams administration has zero tolerance for antisemitism or any other form of hate speech, especially support for a terrorist organization or calls for the destruction of an entire people. The exhibit displayed at an art house on Governors Island over the weekend was sickening and deeply offensive to the Jewish community and to any New Yorker opposed to hate.” City officials clarified that no New York City taxpayer funds went toward the installation.

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