Monsey synagogue vandalised with swastikas

Police in Monsey, New York, say that they have found several instances of swastika graffiti in a local synagogue.

The swastikas were found at Sanzer Shul drawn behind a coat rack, under a metal counter where coffee is made, drawn on the wall and scratched into a computer screen.

Police have said that they do not know when the act was committed, and the investigation is ongoing.

The heavily-Jewish town of Monsey has not been free from antisemitic incidents in the past. On 28th December 2019, on the seventh night of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, a masked man wielding a knife wounded five and killed one person. The suspect was named as Grafton E. Thomas, but a federal judge ruled that he was incompetent to stand trial on the federal charges on account of his long history of mental illness, including paranoid schizophrenia.

According to the FBI, over 60 percent of hate crimes against a religious minority are motivated by antisemitism. Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on antisemitic incidents throughout the United States.