c/o Citizen
A pro-Palestinian activist group based in the United Kingdom has claimed responsibility for Monday morning’s vandalism at an Upper East Side bank, which City Council Speaker Julie Menin had asked police to investigate as a possible antisemitic hate crime.
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The group, Palestine Action, told CBS News New York that it targeted the Capital One branch at East 86th Street and Second Avenue because of the bank’s financial ties to Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense technology company. The group also said Capital One is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.As we reported Monday, NYPD officers found broken glass and graffiti at the branch around 7:40 a.m. A photo Menin shared on X showed shattered windows and red graffiti on the glass doors reading “Pal Action” and “Drop Elbit.” The branch was closed for much of the day.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating. No arrests have been made, and it’s not clear how many people took part, CBS reported.
The U.K. banned Palestine Action under terrorism laws in 2025, and the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned it as a global terrorist group in August.
In a statement Monday afternoon, Capital One referred all questions to the NYPD and said it’s taking steps to safely restore normal operations at the branch as soon as possible.
People in the neighborhood who spoke with CBS were shaken. “It’s a terrible situation,” one woman said. “The community is really concerned, and it just has to stop.”
A resident who asked CBS not to show her face because she feared retribution said, “It’s a scary time in America, not just for Jews but for people in general. There’s a lot of hatred.”
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