Antisemitic Vandalism in Montauk Being Investigated as Possible Hate Crime

East Hampton Town Police are searching for the vandal, or vandals, who spray-painted swastikas and antisemitic messages on a downtown Montauk business and in several places at Ditch Plains beach earlier this week.

Police Chief Michael Sarlo said that the vandalism can be considered a hate crime, and town detectives are working with the Suffolk County Police Department’s Hate Crimes Bureau and investigators from the district attorney’s office as it tries to ferret out the culprits.

Police have asked anyone in the area of the incidents who may have security camera footage from the overnight hours of October 29 and 30 that could be helpful in the investigation, or any other information related to the incidents, to contact Town Police at 631-537-7575.

The staff of Naturally Good, a health food market and restaurant on Main Street, arrived on Monday morning, October 30, to find swastikas painted in black spray paint on the rear door of the business, on its outdoor picnic tables and on the rear fence. The phrase “Jeden Die” also was tagged on the rear fence — an apparent misspelling of the German word for Jew long associated as a slur because of its use as a label by Nazis during the Holocaust.

Other swastikas and an anti-Israeli message had already been discovered a few miles away at Ditch Plains beach, where the Nazi symbols were painted on two food trailers, a town restroom building, several street signs and a utility box. The phrase “Free Palestein” — another apparent misspelling — also was sprayed on one of the food trailers and the word “Jew” on the restroom building.

“Early this morning, the Ditch Plains comfort station, two food trucks and numerous road signs were found to be defaced with black paint swastikas and antisemitic writing,” Sarlo said on Monday. “Additionally, several commercial establishments in Montauk were subsequently found with similar graffiti. EHTPD patrol has responded to each location and continues to canvass areas for other instances related to this terrible act.”

Detectives are handling the investigation, the chief said, and have asked anyone who may have seen a suspicious vehicle, person or activities in the area during the overnight hours Sunday to contact police.

“This is a horrific act of hate, and our department will work tirelessly to solve this crime,” Sarlo said. He declined to specify whether the department has identified a suspect or has any leads about the source of the graffiti.

The town facilities at Ditch Plains have long been plagued by incidents of vandalism and the town has plans to put up security surveillance cameras, but they have not yet been installed.

State penal code classifies a hate crime as any crime targeting a person or group or public or private property because of bias against a specific race, color, religion, nationality, age, ancestry, gender identity or sexual orientation. Any crime classified as a hate crime in the state is automatically elevated one category higher than the offense would typically be.

Naturally Good’s owners issued a statement of gratitude via its Instagram feed on Monday, thanking the community for its outpouring of support in the wake of the incident.

“We would like to thank the community from the bottom of our hearts for the overwhelming support that we feel at the moment,” the statement said. “Your messages of love and solidarity remind of us of how strong we can be when we stand together. We hope that the messages of hatred which defaced our local business today serve as a reminder of the work that needs to be done.

“The Naturally Good team and Montauk community is comprised of many different cultures, ethnicities and religions. Embracing each other makes the fibers of our community stronger and makes our lives richer and more fulfilling.

“Please join us in denouncing hatred in all its forms. Let us band together, as Montauk always does in times of crisis and make our community safe and strong for our children and our neighbors.”

Lauren Katz, one of the business’s co-owners, described the devastation of coming to work that morning and finding the swastikas on the tables in the rear patio area. But she also spoke of the incredible support that she and her employees got from the community immediately after word of the desecration spread.

She described the scene, people waiting outside, as police conducted their investigation, sealing off the area with crime scene tape. The moment the crime scene tape was removed and police were done with their immediate area investigation, the people who had been waiting outside came in.

They brought in power washers and began scrubbing the tables until all the symbols of hate were gone.

Other Montauk,restaurants, such Salivar’s, gave her staff gift certificates.

Rabbi Josh Franklin, who is the rabbi at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, was among those who helped clean off the graffiti at Naturally Good.

“As people were walking by, it felt like I was seeing person after person get punched in the face,” he said. “Perhaps they understood for a moment how Jews have been feeling, even before this happened.”

Franklin said that the conflict in Israel and Gaza has stirred, but did not create, antisemitic feelings and actions in the United States that are fed by misunderstandings of many of the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“There is this conflation of whatever Israel does with antisemitism — whatever Israel does, Jews are responsible everywhere — and it creates a very scary environment for Jews in America,” he said. “The life of Jews right now is feeling you are in jeopardy — it feels like Kristallnacht, when the windows of Jewish business were smashed in Germany in 1938. I know this is a marginal part of the local community, but it’s scary.”

Throughout the day on Monday, customers came to voice their support for the owners, Katz and her business partner, David Piacente. One brought Katz flowers.

A “Love Rally” to push back against the messages of religious hatred sent by vandals in Montauk on Sunday night and in support and solidarity with Jewish members of the local community was held on the Montauk hamlet green at 4 p.m. on Monday and drew hundreds of people.

Local officials reacted strongly to the Montauk vandalism — calling the messages disgusting and disappointing.

“People are shaken,” Councilman David Lys said on Monday as the swastikas were power-washed off the fence of Naturally Good.

Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who was at Ditch Plains beach on Monday morning as the swastikas were cleaned off the town bathrooms and the ones on the trailers covered with paper, called the hateful act “devastating” and said it “tears at the fabric of our entire community.”

“The Town of East Hampton stands united as a community to denounce hate and intimidation in all its forms. Threats and acts of violence will not be tolerated here,” she said. “While these symbols were meant to instill fear and division, we will show them that East Hampton stands as one loving and accepting community.”

Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc echoed the sentiment.

“We live in a close-knit, caring and inclusive community, but this morning we were greeted by evil and disgusting symbols of hatred,” he said in a statement released by his office on Monday afternoon that pledged the vandal would be caught. “Civil society requires us to treat each other with respect, tolerance and dignity, especially now as tensions are increased due to conflicts in other parts of the world.”

Hate and bias crimes have surged against Jewish and Muslim people statewide in the days since the October 7 attack by the Palestinian organization Hamas in Israel and Israeli’s subsequent military response.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday that the state would make $50 million in new grants available to law enforcement agencies to help prevent and solve hate crimes and another $25 million available for security improvements at houses of worship, community centers and other at-risk sites.

“In a time when we should be striving for unity, respect and understanding, it is deeply troubling that individuals would resort to spreading messages of hate and division,” State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said in a statement about the Montauk incidents. “I stand in solidarity with the affected community and all those who reject such acts of discrimination and intolerance.”