Caught on Camera

Vandal Spray-Paints Hate in Crown Heights

A resident captured clear footage of a cyclist defacing public property with anti-Israel graffiti in the heart of Brooklyn's Hasidic neighborhood

Gila Isaacson

AUG 31, 2026 11:41

2 min read

Woman Documents Vandal Spray-Painting Anti-Israel Slogan in Crown Heights

A resident of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement and home to thousands of Orthodox Jewish families, filmed an act of vandalism in broad daylight on a central street in the neighborhood.

According to Crown Heights Info, the footage shows a young man on a bicycle stopping at the corner of New York Avenue and Carroll Street, where he spray-painted an anti-Israel message on a traffic signal utility box. The alert resident who witnessed the incident pulled out her phone and recorded both the graffiti, which read "ZIONISM KILLS", and a clear view of the perpetrator's face.

The photograph captured the young man wearing a bandana on his head and sunglasses, moments after he had surveyed the area and carried out the vandalism.

This incident is part of a broader pattern of anti-Israel and antisemitic vandalism and graffiti that has targeted the New York area, particularly Jewish neighborhoods, since the escalation of security tensions in Israel. Residents of Crown Heights, one of the largest Jewish and Chabad centers in the world, have expressed ongoing concern that vandals feel emboldened to spread hateful messages openly in the middle of the street.

Members of the Jewish community now hope that the clear, high-quality documentation of the suspect's face will help law enforcement and local police identify the cyclist and prosecute him to the full extent of the law.