BY BEN BRACHFELD
A Sheepshead Bay mosque
was vandalized with graffi ti
reading “Death 2 Palestine” on
one of the most important holidays
of the Islamic calendar.
The graffi ti, written in blue
spray paint was spotted at the
entrance of Tayba Islamic Center
on Coney Island Avenue
May 13 by congregants coming
in for morning prayers on Eid,
a religious holiday celebrated
by Muslims worldwide.
Cops responded to a 911 call
for criminal mischief at the
address at 6:46 am and a Police
Department spokesperson
told Brooklyn Paper that the
agency’s Hate Crimes Task
Force is investigating the incident
as a potential hate crime.
No suspects have been identifi
ed, though the Department
says it will be looking at security
cameras in the vicinity on
Coney Island Avenue.
COURIER L 10 IFE, MAY 21-27, 2021
The incident comes not only
on Eid, but also amid high, escalating
tensions between Israel
and Palestine that has left
84 Palestinians and seven Israelis
dead, and many others
injured or displaced.
Usman Khalid, a chaplain
who works with Tayba
and other Muslim communities
in Brooklyn, believes the
content of the message, along
with it being placed on Eid
and amidst the confl ict in Israel
and Palestine, makes the
act deliberate.
“It was 100 percent intentional,
and it was done to incite
either fear or hate amongst the
community,” he said.
Vandalism against houses
of worship was troublingly
common throughout the
Trump era but declined somewhat
during the pandemic,
Khalid said, owing to the fact
that everyone was indoors and
services moved online.
Nonetheless, during Ramadan,
the month of fasting
and piety that ends with Eid,
the chaplain said that people
would drive by and shout Islamophobic
profanities at
Tayba congregants — something,
he said, New York City’s
Muslim community is all too
familiar with.
“We’re in a pandemic, so
religious places were closed
and people weren’t going out,”
Khalid said. “But the agenda
is still there, the hate people
are spreading is still there.
And it’s not getting any less.”
He also criticized this year’s
mayoral candidates, specifi -
cally Borough President Eric
Adams and Andrew Yang, for
abandoning the community
in favor of political expediency,
noting tweets of support
for Israel posted by the two in
the wake of Israeli airstrikes
Congregants of Tayba Islamic Center discovered the words “Death 2 Palestine”
spray-painted on the mosque’s entrance as they arrived for Eid
prayer the morning of May 13 Imran Khan
against Gaza and subsequent
Hamas rocket launches.
“We’re not getting any kind
of support from local politics
or government at all,” Khalid
said. “These mayoral candidates
are running, saying we
support the Muslim community,
then they turn around
and do the opposite, they put
up tweets against the Muslim
community, against Palestine,
against everything we stand
for. They’re afraid of the backlash
they’re gonna get.”
As of that afternoon, neither
candidate had made a
statement about the incident.
The graffi ti was covered up
the same day.
“We have covered up this
hateful message and reclaimed
the wall of this mosque,” said
Ali Najmi.
‘INTENTIONAL’
Sheepshead Bay mosque vandalized with
anti-Palestinian Graffi ti on Muslim holiday
Let’s end this
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!"
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