A Jewish community leader condemned graffiti found in a Hackney children’s playground as revealing antisemitic intent rather than a political agenda.
Rabbi Levi Schapiro, founder of north London’s Jewish Community Council, said the Nazi-era symbols daubed on the playground in Stoke Newington on 20 April were the latest in a string of attacks on Hackney’s Jewish children.
The incident occurred in Clissold Park, which is popular with Jewish families and overlooked by two Jewish institutions, Kehillah North London community centre and Adath Yisroel synagogue.
Rabbi Schapiro, a member of Stamford Hill’s Orthodox Charedi community, said: “It appears to have been done deliberately during Passover, where children are in the park.
“They knew who they were targeting.”
Hackney is home to Europe’s largest Ashkenazi Jewish community and Metropolitan Police data showed a recorded 443 antisemitic crimes in the borough since March 2023.
This comes amid a nationwide surge in antisemitism following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
Hackney’s Jewish youth have been frequent targets, including in an alleged hate crime on the Woodberry Down Estate on 25 November last year which left a Jewish schoolgirl hospitalised.
Rabbi Schapiro stressed that Jewish children in Hackney have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza.
He said: “Why are you attacking them? Have they done anything wrong to you? Are they in Israel?
“You don’t gain anything from it.
“The only thing you will achieve is scaring them.”
He added anyone targeting children, who have no bearing on government decisions, is twisting the conflict into a pretext for antisemitism.
Rabbi Roni Tabick of New Stoke Newington Shul, a synagogue for the Masorti Jewish community, said: “The call to free Palestine is not inherently antisemitic, but when it’s shouted in the face of a young Jewish student, it certainly can be.”
Stamford Hill’s Shomrim, a neighbourhood guard of Charedi volunteers, told The Times they had responded to multiple attacks on Jewish youth since October 2023, including eggs thrown at teenagers and a three-year-old pushed off their bike.
Rabbi Tabick said antisemitism had spread to Hackney schoolyards and is concerned about their cumulative impact.
Several Israeli members of his synagogue have chosen not to enrol their children in mainstream schools, a decision which reflects a nationwide trend according to a survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.
The survey also found students attending Jewish schools were 11% more likely to report experiencing antisemitism while travelling to or from school.
Hackney councillor Susan Fajana-Thomas, cabinet member for community safety and regulatory services, reaffirmed the borough’s commitment to child safety in a 21 April statement.
Hackney mayor Caroline Woodley posted on X the morning after the Clissold Park incident to reassure residents the graffiti had been removed.
I won’t share the abhorrent graffiti that defaced this play area but wanted to let concerned residents know that @hackneycouncil teams were out last night and again this morning to remove it. Everyone should feel safe to #play in #Hackney #NoPlaceforHate pic.twitter.com/gu50CCHnMa
— Mayor of Hackney (@mayorofhackney) April 21, 2025
Both Jewish leaders praised the council’s swift response, and Rabbi Schapiro expressed his appreciation for Hackney authorities’ ongoing support.
However, Rabbi Tabick added: “I feel like the authorities are trying to tackle each incident without thinking about addressing the underlying issues.”
To counter antisemitism, Hackney’s Jewish community has strengthened ties with other faith groups and backed education efforts.
Rabbi Tabick believes the typical education, which focuses exclusively on the Holocaust, often fails to equip non-Jews to recognise modern antisemitism.
The Masorti movement has previously supported Solutions Not Sides, a charity which sends Israeli and Palestinian activists into schools together.
However, funding limits the programme’s impact.
Despite the incidents in Hackney, Rabbi Schapiro spoke with pride about its diversity, calling it a model for other communities.
He said: “Ultimately, we are neighbours, and we have to work together.”
Feature image: Mike Quinn, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized from original. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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