The Brooklyn neighborhood targeted by anti-Semitic graffiti and arson last week is grappling with a new vandalism incident, this time at a subway station.
An Avenue J subway sign in Midwood was found vandalized Wednesday, according to local Assemblyman Dov Hikind. The sign was spray-painted to read "Avenue Jew."
Hikind said he was alerted to the incident by a constituent who snapped a photo of the sign and sent it to him.
Transit police have removed the sign and are investigating it as a bias crime, Hikind said.
Last week, several cars were burned and others painted with swastikas and the letters "KKK" in an anti-Semitic spree along Ocean Parkway near Avenue I. Some benches were also covered with swastikas and other hate graffiti.
Residents in the Midwood neighborhood, which is predominantly Jewish, marched Sunday to protest the vandalism.
"I am the child of a Holocaust survivor, and this makes me uncomfortable," said Judy Pfeffer, 62, a retired city education department employee. "Even then, it was just vandalism. But it led to the Holocaust."
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U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer also weighed in on the vandalism Sunday, saying, "It's disgraceful and they should throw the book at the people who did it. Sometimes (vandals) think they're pranks, sometimes they're more malicious than that. Either way they cause great harm."
Hikind announced Wednesday that the reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for last week's hate crime had increased to $56,000. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
