Antisemitic Graffiti Discovered in Montauk, the Second Such Incident in Just Over a Year

For the second time in just over a year, antisemitic graffiti has been discovered in Montauk.

Swastikas and “SS,” standing for Schutzstaffel, the Nazi paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler, were discovered spray-painted on signs and structures in Shadmoor State Park on the morning of Thursday, December 19. State Park Police are investigating, as the vandalism took place on state property. The graffiti was scrubbed.

It was a chilling replay of an incident of barely one year ago, when swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti were discovered in two locations in Montauk, including on the wall of a downtown commercial business. A 74-year-old Montauk resident was arrested weeks later and admitted to being the perpetrator.

Thursday’s incident reflects a historic spike in antisemitic incidents in the United States since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. According to the Anti-Defamation League, there were more than 10,000 such incidents in the first year since that attack.

Governor Kathy Hochul issued a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“The discovery of hateful graffiti, including a swastika, at Shadmoor State Park is abhorrent and deeply disturbing,” she said. “Acts of antisemitism and hate are unacceptable in any form and will never be tolerated in New York State.

“I have directed the State Police to work closely with local authorities to fully investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable.

“These hateful actions are an attack on the values of inclusion and respect that define us as New Yorkers,” the governor continued. “As we continue to confront the rise of antisemitism and hate across the country, let this serve as a reminder that we must remain vigilant and united against these vile acts.”

On Thursday, December 19, as in the wake of the autumn 2023 incidents in Montauk, a rally was quickly arranged and held on the downtown green, with speakers including Rabbi Josh Franklin of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons; East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and members of the Town Board, including Councilman Tom Flight, who lives in Montauk; Charlotte Sasso, an Amagansett resident and former longtime resident of Montauk whose father survived the Holocaust in Hungary; and Joshua Odom, superintendent of the Montauk School.

Before a crowd numbering around 30, speakers were both defiant and hopeful, reflecting a range of emotions the news stirred.

“I know a lot of you are angry,” Franklin said. “Me too. I’m emotional. I’m sad right now …

“But let me tell you what I’m not right now: I’m not shocked, not in the slightest. I’m through being shocked, because I’ve seen this far too many times, and I’m not just talking about when we were standing right here in this same exact spot last November. I’m talking about the rise in antisemitism, which Jews have been seeing and experiencing most profoundly for the last year and longer. This has been a normal that we’ve been living.”

Franklin told the gathering that the Israeli flag outside of the Jewish Center, in East Hampton, had been torn down the previous evening. “Were these two instances related? I do not know — but, again, it would not at all surprise me,” he said.

“While this action casts a shadow over today, one thing I do know is that the light in Montauk shines bright in our children,” Odom said.

“To the parents who are here, to the kids who are here, thank you. You’re beautiful. You bring us joy every day, and in this moment we stand in solidarity with hope because of all of you.”

“We are all witness to the love for our community,” Burke-Gonzalez said, calling the graffiti “heartbreaking, because this is the second year in a row … it’s heartbreaking because there’s no place in our community for that kind of hate. We all have to teach our children and teach each other. We have to love each other, accept each other. We’re stronger when we’re a community.

“I know how hard it is for my friends in the Jewish community to be living with this over their head,” she said. “There’s no place for it.”

Flight said that “coming here together to be as one, to look at your neighbor and just look them in the eye and know that you have love for them in your heart, is the key. That’s the only way we’re going to get through this, through these times. …

“This is not what Montauk’s about. Montauk is the place people come to celebrate, to be one with their families, to enjoy nature. How someone could do this in this town is beyond me. I feel empathy for them because if you have that kind of feeling inside of you … you need help. Reach out.”

Rabbi Aizik Baumgarten of Chabad of the Hamptons in East Hampton and Chabad of Montauk agreed that the latest instance of antisemitism does not reflect Montauk.

“You’re right,” he said. “Montauk is a place of peace and love and unity between everybody. And this is the exception to the rule, what happened today and last year.”

Like Flight, “I feel sorry for the individual that has this hate within them,” he said, “and it’s not going to put us down — on a dime’s notice we all came out here. We see that we’re strong, and this is encouraging that we can come together and we do support each other. …

“I encourage everyone to continue doing what we’ve been doing and what we know how to do here so well, and that is like everyone’s been saying up until now: Do something small in your family, in your home. That’s how it starts, with your small circle and then your wider circle, in your work environment, and then in your town and your village. And then you can spread to the whole world that way. But it starts at home.”