New York Synagogue Tunnel: What We Know, What We Don't

A group of men belonging to the Hasidic Jewish community clashing with New York police over a secret tunnel discovered at a historic synagogue in Brooklyn has caught global media attention this week and has also spurred misleading and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

On Monday afternoon, police made at least nine arrests, according to The Associated Press, after clashing with a group of men in the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, that was reportedly trying to prevent an unauthorized tunnel linked to the building from being filled in.

The New York Police Department said a group of individuals "unlawfully" entered the building by damaging a wall; the Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters has condemned these actions.

Newsweek has taken a look at the story so far to untangle the details.

What We Know

The underground tunnel was discovered at 770 Eastern Parkway, a synagogue and headquarters of the Hasidic Jewish movement Chabad-Lubavitch.

There have been reports about the tunnel since December.

Community news outlet CrownHeights.Info said a construction worker discovered it spanned from under the women's section of the synagogue to a mikvah—a Jewish ritual cleansing bath—on the corner of Union Street. Synagogue leadership decided to close off the women's section until a decision could be reached on how to secure the building.

The New York City Fire Department has also told reporters that it received an anonymous tip about the tunnel in December 2020 but could not find it when it checked it out.

It's not clear how long the tunnel has been under construction.

The situation came to a head on Monday. Officers with the New York Police Department were called to the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters on Monday afternoon after "a group of individuals unlawfully entered" the building by damaging a wall, an NYPD spokesperson told Newsweek.

The group was seeking to stop construction crews from filling in the tunnel, according to Jewish publication Forward.

Shortly after the incident, a statement was released by the Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters condemning those behind the disorder and expressing support for the police.

It said: "The Chabad-Lubavich community is pained by the vandalism of a group of young agitators who damaged the synagogue below Chabad Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway Monday night.

"These odious actions will be investigated, and the sanctity of the synagogue will be restored. Our thanks to the NYPD for their professionalism and sensitivity."

Motti Seligson, a Chabad spokesperson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this week that: "Some time ago, a group of extremist students broke through a few walls in adjacent properties to the synagogue at 784-788 Eastern Parkway, to provide them unauthorized access."

He went on to say that a cement truck was brought in to carry out repairs, but the work was disrupted by "extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorized access."

Newsweek has contacted the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters for comment via email.

Videos of the scenes between police and those inside the synagogue have gone viral since the start of this week.

Footage initially posted on TikTok by user Shita Hakdosha showed a number of men tearing paneling from a wall in the complex, with a smaller group in what appears to be the hidden tunnel behind the wall. At one point, a noticeably stained rectangular object, which appeared to be a mattress, was removed either from the tunnel or from the area around its entrance where the paneling had been torn down.

What We Don't Know

It's not clear how long the tunnel has been under construction. The names of the people who have been responsible for its construction are not known.

It's also not yet entirely clear why the tunnel was constructed. Motti Seligson, the spokesperson for Chabad, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the tunnel started from the basement of an empty apartment building behind the headquarters, under offices and lecture halls before reaching the synagogue.

Seligson said it was a rogue act of vandalism. AP reported that those who supported the tunnel's construction said it was part of an expansion plan envisioned by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, former head of the Chabad movement who died in 1994. They said that the synagogue had become overcrowded.

AP spoke to one Brooklyn resident, 21-year-old Zalmy Grossman who said: "That's what the rabbi wants, that's what everybody wants."

The story has also created space for opportunistic content creators. One video, allegedly a recording from the tunnels, went viral this week. The unverified footage has been viewed almost 4 million times since it was posted on X. In a statement to Newsweek, Seligson said that the videos posted on social media "don't appear to be under Chabad Headquarters."

Fake Footage and Offensive Claims

Other underground exploration footage falsely attributed to the synagogue tunnel has spread across TikTok and other social media networks this week. There have also been a number of antisemitic and conspiratorial claims attached to the story.

Some on X baselessly claimed what was thought to be a mattress found behind the wall leading to the tunnel was evidence of human trafficking, a common antisemitic trope, or by comparing it to the tunnel network that Palestinian militant group Hamas is known to have constructed in Gaza.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, which was formed to combat antisemitism, told Rolling Stone he was very concerned by the online disinformation.

"It's deeply troubling that anyone would use this incident, which the Chabad movement at large has strongly condemned, to draw inappropriate and false comparisons to Hamas tunnels in Gaza or propagate age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as Jews are involved in human trafficking or organ harvesting," he said.