‘Kill Them All' Sign Shocks Upper East Side Residents, Politicians

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A sign hanging from an Upper East Side apartment window calling to "flat Gaza," and "kill them all" has received wide condemnation from elected officials across the Upper East Side and the city.

"Hate has no place in NY. This is an explicit call for slaughter," wrote Assembly Member Alex Bores.

The sign in a second story corner apartment window above the recently shuttered Quality Eats on Second Avenue and East 78th Street reads: "flat Gaza NOW! kill them all" painted in red letters.

Easily visible from Second Avenue and just blocks from two nursery schools, the sign received swift condemnation from elected officials after a person on the website X.com, formerly known as Twitter, shared its gruesome message.

My hands are shaking as I write this. Appalled by this sign in my neighborhood on 78th and 2nd. Hate has no place here. @NYCMayor @MarkLevineNYC @JulieMenin @AlexBores pic.twitter.com/r2ChUTtRGr
— Miral Sattar (@miralsattar) November 1, 2023

"There is no place for hate and explicit threats of violence," said Council Member Julie Menin in a social media post. "Children walk by this residential building every day."

Menin said in the post that she had reached out to the 19th Precinct. A police spokesperson did not confirm if they were contacted by Menin's office.

"At this difficult time, we need to ensure that all communities feel safe," she added.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine shared Menin's comment, and thanked her for speaking out, saying "I 100% agree."

Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright said that constituents have complained to her office regarding the "disturbing sign," and that shealso has contacted the 19th Precinct and the New York State Hate and Bias Prevention Unit.

"The sign is despicable and horribly incendiary," Seawright told Patch.

Both Bores and Seawright said they had reached out to the property manager of the building regarding the sign, telling Patch that the management company is reaching out to the tenant.

"This is a time of really heightened sensitivities and it's a time for all of us to be extra cautious with the messages we put out there," Bores told Patch. "I'm worried about how this can inflame how people are feeling and also make people feel less safe."

Brooklyn Council Member Shahana Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to City Council, also commented on the sign writing that the rise in "anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic sentiment we’re witnessing in our City, and across the country is fueling violence against our neighbors."

"This hate, and the hate against our Jewish neighbors, has no place in our City," Hanif wrote in her social media post. "But it’s on all of us to demand it stop."

The neighborhood has seen a rise in antisemitic behavior since over 1,400 people were brutally murdered and over 200 were kidnapped by Hamas militants in Israel on Oct. 7.

A swastika was drawn outside the 2nd Ave Deli in October, several persons have been photographed and identified after ripping down posters advocating for the release of Israeli hostages, a Jewish woman was punched in Midtown, and counterterrorism officers remain posted outside of neighborhood synagogues.

Islamophobic incidents have been rising across the city too, including a Palestinian teen in Bay Ridge beaten by a crew of young men waving Israeli flags shouting "F--- Palestine," and a man who ripped the hijab off of a teenaged Muslim girl inside a Union Square subway car and yelled "you’re a terrorist, you don’t belong here."

In Chicago, a man stabbed a six-year-old Muslim boy "dozens" of times, killing him earlier this month, reportedly acting in response to the violence between Israel and Hamas.

Since Oct. 7, over 9,000 people have been killed in Israeli military actions in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, and at least 128 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, reports the New York Times.