A kosher restaurant in Manhattan was defaced over the weekend with anti-Israel graffiti that read “join the line to support genocide” but locals have come out to help wash the message away.

The Jewish-owned Effy’s Cafe, dubbed a “taste of Israel” for the Upper West Side, was vandalised in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to a representative for the restaurant, this is the first time Effy’s Cafe has been defaced since it opened in 2013.

Photos posted on X showed locals coming together to scrub away at the graffiti on the pavement outside Effy’s Cafe on W. 96th Street, which also read “Free Gaza” in green paint.

Members of the Jewish community on the Upper West Side came together to wash away the graffiti on Monday morning, according to an eyewitness source at the scene, who said volunteers have continued to arrive to assist in the effort.

(Photo: Melanie Notkin)

According to the restaurant representative, the owner, who is Israeli and Jewish, did not contact the NYPD to report the vandalism.