CAIR-NY backs hate crime probe into Queens synagogue vandalism
Muslim civil rights group condemned attacks weeks after joining efforts to identify suspect in mosque vandalism across Brooklyn
NEW YORK (MNTV) — The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the vandalism of two synagogues in Queens and backed the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigation into the attacks, which police are examining as possible bias crimes.
CAIR-NY said targeting any house of worship threatens religious freedom and community safety, and undercuts the coexistence a diverse society depends on.
Executive Director Afaf Nasher called for a thorough investigation to identify those responsible and said intimidation aimed at religious communities has to be met with accountability, so that people can worship without fear.
The stance is not new for the organization.
Earlier this month CAIR-NY joined public efforts to help identify a person accused of a series of anti-Islamic vandalism incidents at Brooklyn mosques, also under investigation by the Hate Crimes Task Force — the same task force, the same city, a different community targeted.
The group said its work extends past defending Muslims to standing with Jewish communities and anyone facing antisemitism, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, or white supremacy.
That is the practical argument beneath the solidarity: the security of one community’s right to worship is not separable from another’s. Civil rights advocates say answering these attacks takes more than policing — it takes community partnership and sustained public education — but the immediate demand is straightforward accountability for whoever defaced the synagogues.
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