Four school buses belonging to chassidishe communities in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, were vandalized with swastikas, antisemitic slurs, and anti-Israel graffiti early Monday morning, prompting a hate crime investigation by the NYPD and Williamsburg Shomrim.

The disturbing incident occurred at approximately 5 a.m. near the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Williamsburg Street West, where buses serving the Satmar, Sanz-Klausenburg, and Tiferes Yisrael communities were targeted. The vehicles, used to transport children to local yeshivos, were discovered with hateful messages spray-painted across their exteriors.

Photographs circulating Monday showed swastikas painted on the yellow school buses, along with slogans including “Free Palestine,” “America First,” and vulgar statements directed against Jews and Israel. Some of the graffiti was sprayed directly over the Hebrew lettering identifying the buses and their affiliated institutions.

According to police, the vandalism was reported shortly before 10 a.m. after someone associated with a local yeshiva discovered the damage and contacted authorities.

Officers from the NYPD’s 90th Precinct responded to the location, and the department’s Hate Crimes Task Force launched an investigation. Williamsburg Shomrim is working alongside investigators to identify those responsible, including efforts to obtain surveillance footage from the surrounding area.

The attack drew immediate condemnation from elected officials and Jewish community representatives, who expressed outrage that vehicles used to transport children had been singled out for antisemitic vandalism.

City Councilman Lincoln Restler, whose district includes the affected neighborhood, denounced the incident and confirmed that his office was coordinating with law enforcement and Shomrim.

“Anti-Semitic graffiti on our community’s school buses is truly obscene,” Restler said. “We are working with NYPD and Shomrim to track down those responsible. The decade-long rise in anti-Semitic incidents must be stopped.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James also condemned the vandalism, calling for those responsible to be identified.

“This is despicable. Antisemitism and hate have no home in New York,” James said. “I urge anyone with information to contact local law enforcement.”

The administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that it was aware of the incident and had been communicating with police and community leaders.

Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, described the attack as abhorrent and pledged that the city would continue working to protect Jewish residents.

“The antisemitic vandalism targeting school buses in South Williamsburg is abhorrent. No Jewish New Yorker should have to live with the threat of hatred and intimidation,” Wisdom said.

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal also condemned the attack, describing the targeting of schoolchildren as particularly reprehensible and urging authorities to prosecute those responsible under applicable hate crime laws.

The vandalism comes amid continued concern over antisemitic incidents across New York City. According to NYPD statistics cited in local reporting, anti-Jewish offenses accounted for approximately 52.9% of confirmed hate crimes in the city through September 30, despite Jews representing a substantially smaller percentage of the overall population.

{Matzav.com}