By eyewitness news
A mosque in Brooklyn was vandalized overnight Thursday on one of the holiest days of the Muslim calendar.
(ABC7NY) HOMECREST, Brooklyn (WABC) — A mosque in Brooklyn was vandalized overnight Thursday on one of the holiest days of the Muslim calendar.
“Death to Palestine” was spray painted on the Tayba Islamic Center on Coney Island Avenue in the Homecrest section.
The vandalism was found around 6 a.m., as Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the “Festival of Breaking the Fast,” to mark the final day of Ramadan. “We mark the end of Ramadan, we rejoice with our families, we start the morning with the prayer,” worshipper Imran Khan said. “And I come in, 6 o’clock in the morning, to see that.”
The congregation is mostly Pakistani-American, not Palestinian, but the impact is no less painful. Worshippers believe the motive is obvious.
“Even though the issues are 6,000 miles away, the hate is here,” worshipper Mehran Mohammad said. “And it’s festering.” As the fighting rages in Israel and the Palestinian territories, tensions are rising across the globe — and in New York, where supporters of the Palestinian cause have taken to the streets in large numbers.
Overall, hate crimes in New York City are up 71%, driven largely by anti-Asian bias crimes, which are up a staggering 376%.
Anti-Black crimes are up 70% but anti-Semitic crimes are down 7% and anti-Muslim crimes are unchanged. The community is diverse, a vibrant corner of South Brooklyn where Jews and Muslims live side by side. In fact, a yeshiva is just across the street from the mosque. No one was more surprised than the Imam.
“I’m surprised when I saw this on the wall,” Imam Mohammad Younas said. “And, hopefully, the NYPD get the person, whoever did this.”