Swastikas and “anti-Semitic writing” were allegedly spraypainted onto four school buses that serve orthodox Jewish schools in New York. Photos posted on Monday by the Williamsburg News show the Nazi symbols painted in black on what the outlet reported was four separate buses. Other phrases included “USA First,” “f**k Israel” and “Free Palestine.” The New York City Police Department (NYPD) told Newsweek that its Hate Crime Task Force is investigating following a 911 call on Monday morning.
The alleged “criminal mischief” took place “in the vicinity of Bedford Avenue and Williamsburg Street, within the confines of the 90 Precinct,” the NYPD said. No arrests had been made as of mid-afternoon Tuesday. Williamsburg is home to a large Jewish community—an estimated 36,000 Jewish adults and 32,000 children as of 2023, according to a UJA-Federation of New York’s Jewish Community Study.
The buses serve the Satmar, Sanz-Klausenburg and Tiferes Yisrael Jewish communities, according to Williamsburg 365—these are Orthodox Jewish religious sects whose institutions include schools. None of them have spoken out publicly. Newsweek has reached out to offices for the United Talmudical Academy, the Sanz-Klausenburg Congregation in Williamsburg and Talmud Torah Tiferes Yisroel.
Multiple New York City officials have spoken out against the vandalism, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called it “abhorrent.” Phylisa Wisdom, who leads the mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, told Newsweek that the city would “use every tool at our disposal” to find those responsible. It comes amid growing concern about a rise in antisemitism in New York and around the U.S. NYPD figures show 245 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes in the first nine months of 2026, up from 242 in the same period last year and accounting for approximately 53 percent of all confirmed hate crimes citywide.
Last year was the third-highest year on record for antisemitic incidents recorded by the Jewish advocacy organization Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with 6,274. That was down from a peak of 9,354 in 2024 and 8,873 in 2023, following seven years of the figures fluctuating between 1,000 and 3,000. The FBI, whose data covers hate crimes reported by law enforcement rather than the ADL’s broader range of incidents, recorded 1,648 anti-Jewish hate-crime incidents across America in 2025 and 1,030 so far this year.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the acts “despicable” in a post on X, urging anyone with information to contact law enforcement. Governor Kathy Hochul called for those responsible to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” “As a mother and grandmother, it sickens me to think of children arriving at school to find their buses defaced with swastikas and hateful antisemitic messages,” she wrote on X. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously accused Mamdani of endangering Jewish New Yorkers with his rhetoric about Israel during a September speech at the United Nations.
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