Authorities report that swastikas and crudely spray-painted letters that appeared to spell out “Free Palestine” were discovered scrawled at multiple locations in Montauk on Monday morning, with the Anti-Semitic graffiti covering restaurants, signs and vehicles in the downtown area and a local beach.
The vile defacement was found on doors, tables and fences at Naturally Good and Sausages Pizza and Pastabilities, two restaurants in Montauk's downtown area.
Additional hateful graffiti directed at Jewish people was found on food trucks and signs at Ditch Plains Beach located about two miles away, as confirmed by East Hampton Town Police Captain Chris Anderson.
“With the current climate and the state of affairs in the world it is troubling that an individual - or, individuals - would act out in such a manner,” he told Newsday.
In addition to swastikas and “Free Palestine,” another phrase reportedly found spray-painted was what appeared to read “Jeden die," which authorities believe is a misspelling of the German word “Juden,” meaning "Jews."
“The spelling is not great,” Anderson said.
Police were first informed of the vandalism early Monday morning before sunrise; it is believed that it was scrawled at some point Sunday evening.
Detectives are currently in the process of gathering all possible surveillance video footage in order to identify the suspects responsible for the incident.
According to officials, there has been a spike in hate crimes against Jewish people following Hamas’ attack in Israel; NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny announced last week that incidents against Jews made up 60 percent of all reported hate crimes alone.
Anyone with information is asked to contact East Hampton Town Police at 631-537-7575.