NYPD searching for man who wrote anti-Semitic graffiti at Brooklyn temple ahead of Ilana Glazer event

Police are searching for a man who wrote anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls of Union Temple of Brooklyn Thursday night, ahead of an event hosted by Broad City star, Ilana Glazer.

Glazer was scheduled to host a Generator Collective event at the Brooklyn synagogue, located at 17 Eastern Parkway, on Nov. 1 with New York Senators Andrew Gounardes and Jim Gaughran on volunteering and getting out the vote.

The event was canceled after anti-Semitic graffiti, including “Die Jew Rats,” “Hitler,” and “end it now” were found written on the walls throughout the building in black marker, according to the New York Times.

 

 

 

 

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My friends surprised me for my birthday tonight with tickets to see @ilanusglazer speak at @generatorcollective – a series of talks with activists and politicians about the importance of voting and humanizing politics. Unfortunately, after waiting for over an hour to enter the auditorium, we were notified that some emboldened bigot had covered the walls of the Jewish temple that was housing the event with anti-Semitic symbols and slurs. Organizers felt unsafe and uncomfortable carrying on with the event, and rightfully shut it down. THIS IS WHY WE NEED TO ELECT GOOD PEOPLE INTO OFFICE. This is why we gathered tonight. This is why we protest and demand real, direct action against acts of hate and violence. Thank you to the ever-badass @ilanusglazer and Amy Goodman of @democracynow for putting these kinds of events together and staying strong in the face of incredible intolerance. We will not be stopped or silenced. Your hate has no place in this country. ✊? #VOTE

A post shared by Shelby Quackenbush (@shelbyyq) on Nov 1, 2018 at 6:21pm PDT

“We’ll have more events soon and thank you for coming and caring and following your curiosity, and this is action in itself, gathering, and we’ll follow up with more specific action for this weekend,” Glazer said at the synagogue. “Let’s change the world.”

NYPD released an image of the man they say wrote the anti-Semitic statements throughout Union Temple. Officials say he is wanted for aggravated harassment and for anyone with information to call NYPD Tips at 800-577-TIPS.

Anti-Semitic graffiti at Brooklyn temple one of recent hate crimes

Union Temple on Brooklyn is located across the street from the Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Museum. On Friday, library officials reached out to community members in the wake of the hate crime.

“We know it’s been a difficult week for many Brooklynites, and particularly our neighbors at Union Temple who discovered anti-Semitic graffiti defacing their building,” the library’s Twitter account posted. “Today and every day, the Library opens its doors to you — everyone is welcome here.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio commented that the anti-Semitic graffiti at the Brooklyn temple was the “vilest kind of hate.”

“Union Temple is stronger than this. Brooklyn is stronger than this. We will fight anti-Semitism with every fiber of our being,” he said on Twitter. “The NYPD will find the perpetrators of this hate crime and hold them accountable.”

This attack comes in the wake of a mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue, as well as some other anti-Semitic actions in New York City. Two spray painted swastikas were found Thursday in the Upper West Side and on Tuesday, a Brooklyn Heights home was vandalized with swastikas and slurs.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters on Wednesday that officials have seen a troubling uptick in “anti-Semitic hate crimes, particularly swastikas, on buildings in part of the city” in the last month.