Photo: @allegrabeletskiy
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A vile antisemitic message was found scrawled on a large stone in Riverside Park over the weekend, rattling residents of one of NYC’s most historically Jewish neighborhoods.
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The spray-painted graffiti, located somewhere along the park’s bike trail between 97th and 105th Streets, reads “Kill a Jew, go to heaven.” The NYPD and the New York City Parks Department have both opened investigations into the incident, and the message is being removed. No arrests have been made.State Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who is currently running for Congress in District 12, shared an image of the graffiti on social media. “I share this appalling message reluctantly, but it is important for people to see the kind of antisemitic hate that has become commonplace,” Lasher wrote. “This is in the park where I raised my kids, in one of the most Jewish neighborhoods in the city.” Lasher thanked both the NYPD and the Parks Department for their response.
I share this appalling message reluctantly, but it is important for people to see the kind of antisemitic hate that has become commonplace. This is in the park where I raised my kids, in one of the most Jewish neighborhoods in the city. My thanks to the NYPD and the Parks… pic.twitter.com/QAgyVJoDMF
— Micah Lasher (@MicahLasher) March 15, 2026
The Combat Antisemitism Movement, a global coalition of pro-Jewish groups, called the message “a direct public call for violence against Jews.” The group also noted that 28 antisemitic incidents were reported in New York in the month prior to the discovery. U.S.-based advocacy organization StopAntisemitism lamented “this level of open hatred” in a city it described as once a “safe haven for Jewish life.”
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