The Postcards 9/11 Memorial on Staten Island’s North Shore was defaced with anti-police and pro-Palestine graffiti, Borough President Vito Fossella said on Wednesday.
Written in black and red marker on the memorial were the phrases “ACAB” (an acronym for “‘all cops are bastards”) and the misspelled “Free Palistine” (sic).
The pro-Palestine scrawl is the latest incident in the rise of antisemitism throughout the city and the nation since the start of the Israel-Hamas war following the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.
The memorial, built in 2004, honors the 263 Staten Island residents killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Twenty-three NYPD police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers were killed on Sept. 11. Others continue to die of 9/11-related illness.
A spokesperson for Fossella said a constituent called their office on Wednesday to report the heinous graffiti. The beep said he “strongly condemns” the act.
“In this great country of ours, The First Amendment, among other things, guarantees individuals the right to speak freely and express themselves,” Fossella said. “It does not guarantee individuals the right to destroy and desecrate property, especially something as meaningful as the Postcards Memorial that honors all those Staten Islanders that died as a result of the 9/11 attacks.”
Fossella also zeroed in on the vandals’ poor grammar skills.
“And the inclusion of the phrase, “ACAB”, is not only disgusting, but also an insult to the thousands of men and women who wear or who have worn the uniform of the New York City Police Department. These vandals are bad neighbors and bad spellers. They spelled only two words, and one of them was wrong, maybe that’s why they had to use an acronym.”
U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island, called the vandalism a “slap in the face” to 9/11 heroes.
“The fact that someone would desecrate our Postcards Memorial, which pays tribute to these individuals’ lives, with an anti-police acronym is deeply disturbing and a slap in the face to those who sacrificed their lives on that horrific day,” she said in a statement. “Our heroes deserve to have their legacies preserved and respected by everyone in our community.”
A police report was not filed, but a spokesperson for the New York Economic Development Corporation (NYEDC), which maintains the site, said the graffiti was scrubbed off by Thursday morning.
“NYCEDC was made aware of the incident at the 9/11 memorial, and we responded quickly to remove the graffiti,” a spokesperson said. “The vandalism that took place at the 9/11 memorial has no place in our city.”
The vandalism is the latest in the city’s ongoing rise in antisemitic incidents. Just last month, a bigot threw dog feces and made antisemitic remarks to a man in Soho, Manhattan.
And in May, someone left a shirt with a Nazi armband at an Upper East Side tailoring shop.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks bias incidents, nearly 9,000 antisemitic incidents took place across the United States, with a dramatic increase in the period following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
Locally, the NYPD reported a whopping 137% increase in hate crimes against Jewish people this June compared to June 2023. Hate crimes of all kinds increased 68% during the same period.
