Fliers referencing ‘dirty Zionist money’ appear near NYC apartment buildings slated for redevelopment

Several fliers containing antisemitic, racist and homophobic messages have appeared around two Manhattan public-housing developments targeted for a major redevelopment project.

The posters, found near the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, include references to “dirty zionist money,” “Talmudists” and the Rothschild family and appear to be aimed at opponents of the redevelopment.

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The project is a partnership between the New York City Housing Authority, Essence Development and Related Companies. It calls for replacing all 2,056 existing NYCHA apartments with new, permanently affordable homes for current residents and constructing 3,454 additional mixed-income units, including 1,038 affordable apartments.

The redevelopment plan has faced opposition from some residents and housing advocates, including over concerns about demolition, relocation and the role of private developers. A state appellate court lifted a temporary stay on the project in July, allowing work to resume.

“The antisemitic and hateful fliers that have appeared at the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses redevelopment projects are despicable and the kind of rhetoric that inflames tensions against New York’s Jewish community,” Scott Richman, regional director of ADL New York and New Jersey, told JNS. “There is no place for bigotry in legitimate debate over housing policy, and we urge the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate this incident.”

“All city leaders must speak out against such hate to send a clear message that tactics like this are unacceptable,” he said.

One denounced what it called “foreign wealth dirty zionist money,” while another warned, “Beware: Talmudists are trained to cheat.” Other posters referred to the redevelopment dispute as a “SOS NYCHA Holocaust Battle” and portrayed “Zionists,” “Rothschilds,” “Talmudists” and “foreign operatives” as being opposed to local residents.

The fliers also targeted Erik Bottcher, a Democrat state senator who is gay, with homophobic slurs, and Lakeesha Miller, the authority’s executive vice president of leased housing, who is black.

Sources cited by the New York Post believe that a single person may be responsible.

New York City Councilman Carl Wilson, whose District 3 includes Chelsea, told JNS that his office “has been alerted to deeply offensive, antisemitic posters appearing throughout Chelsea.”

“We have asked DSNY to remove them as quickly as possible and will continue responding to any additional reports,” Wilson told JNS. “Antisemitism has no place in Chelsea or anywhere in our city.”

“These are vile, antisemitic, racist and homophobic posters, and this kind of bigotry has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” Sam Raskin, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, told the Post.

“New Yorkers can express their views without resorting to antisemitism, racism, homophobia and dehumanizing imagery and rhetoric,” Raskin said.

NYCHA spokesman Michael Horgan told the Post that “we strongly condemn the targeting and harassment of staff members, who are dedicated public servants working every day to assist New Yorkers.”

He said the redevelopment follows years of engagement with residents and is intended to address more than $900 million in identified physical needs at the two developments while preserving residents’ rights and protections.

“As always, we remain focused on carrying out the authority’s work and on delivering this forward-thinking project as it was promised to the benefit of 2,056 NYCHA households,” Horgan told the outlet.

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