Congressman’s office vandalized as pro-Palestinian protests reignite across NYC
The Manhattan office of New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti, Sept. 27, 2024. (Ben Sales)
(New York Jewish Week) — The uptown Manhattan district office of New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat and the surrounding area was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti on Thursday night.
According to security footage police viewed at the scene the following morning, the vandalism took place at around 11 p.m., on a night when pro-Palestinian protests took place around the city, on the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
The district office is in a heavily Jewish area, close to several synagogues and Jewish schools. The graffiti covered a window that, for much of the past year, has displayed fliers with the faces of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The office, which was closed Friday morning as police investigated, is regularly picketed by small groups of pro-Palestinian protesters.
By Friday morning, the graffiti had been partially scratched off, but the vandalism appeared to say, “F— Israel,” “40k dead,” “genocide lover” and “terrorist” in red paint on the window and door of Espaillat’s office in Washington Heights.
The graffiti also had an inverted red triangle, a symbol Hamas uses to mark its targets in propaganda videos that has become increasingly popular among pro-Palestinian protesters. Other graffiti on the same street and on a nearby subway entrance also featured the red triangle and read “F— Israel NYPD Cop City,” “Free Gaza” and “A terrorist in uniform is still a terrorist.”
Espaillat is a Democrat representing upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx. He has spoken out in support of Israeli hostages, security funding for Jewish institutions, and Jewish students at Columbia University in recent months. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other pro-Israel New York congressmen have had their offices hit with anti-Israel graffiti since Oct. 7, including Reps. Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.
Anti-Israel protests reignited around the city this week, after a lull during the summer, when many students were home for summer vacation. A protest against Netanyahu marched from Bryant Park on Thursday, and demonstrators gathered outside a hotel on Park Avenue on Thursday night where they believed Netanyahu was staying. The protests come amid an escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group.
The anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace said actress Rowan Blanchard from the “Spy Kids” movie series had been arrested along with 24 other activists affiliated with the group.
The hardline pro-Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime released a map illustrated with dripping blood that urged followers to target the offices of Israel-focused groups including the Friends of the IDF, AIPAC, Birthright and the “Zionist consulate,” as well as Grand Central Station. The group published a similar map last year.
Anti-Israel protesters targeted New York Mayor Eric Adams at a Thursday rally after he was indicted for corruption. Columbia University students announced a Friday campus protest focused on Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
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