Anti-Israel vandals release crickets, paint pro-Hamas red triangles over Columbia exec’s NYC apartment building

Anti-Israel vandals drew hateful inverted triangle symbols, splattered red paint — and unleashed live crickets and mealworms — across a top Columbia University executive’s Brooklyn apartment building early Thursday, horrified neighbors and sources told The Post.

The unidentified perps set the bugs loose in the lobby of Columbia chief operating officer Cas Holloway’s Brooklyn Heights building along Orange Street before breaking a glass door and trashing the outside of the dwelling with red paint in the early morning attack, police said.

In addition to the dumped paint, at least two inverted red triangles were sprayed near the doorway — a symbol that has been used in the past by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets and, more recently, has been spotted at anti-Israel tent encampment protests across the country.

Before fleeing, the vandals plastered threatening posters on the outside of the building that included the Ivy League executive’s name and photo as they criticized his handling of the violent anti-Israel protests that plagued Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus earlier this year.

They also gloated about leaving the crickets for Holloway as a “present.”

“Did you enjoy our present? Did it make you uncomfortable? What you felt was incomparable to the pain you made Columbia students feel when you signed off on their brutalization because they stood against the genocide of Palestinians,” the note said.

“P.S. Even when the crickets are gone from your apartment, the memory will remain.”

Disturbed residents alerted cops to the vandalism at about 3 a.m., the NYPD confirmed.

Officers were spotted inside the lobby later Thursday morning picking up a can that was apparently filled with the creepy crawlers before bagging it up as evidence.

Hateful cyclist punches man in Central Park, snarls ‘F–king Jew pig’ before speeding off: cops

The soda-size can had the words “Live insects” across it.

The Post didn’t spot crickets, but did see mealworms squirming on the carpet.

Red paint could still be seen splashed across the building’s entryway as cops cordoned off the area later on in the morning.

“Please be careful to not track red paint into the building,” a sign on the building’s door warned residents.

The saga outside the Columbia exec’s apartment was the latest in a string of nearly identical incidents that have plagued the Big Apple in recent months.

It came just one day after a New York City journalist was busted for allegedly joining a group of antisemitic vandals who recently splattered red paint on several homes — including the nearby apartment of the Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish head.

3 Columbia University deans resign after ‘antisemitic tropes’ texts scandal: report

Separately, pro-Palestinian protesters made headlines last month for unleashing crickets and maggots inside the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, as they demonstrated against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit.

Meanwhile, the Columbia exec’s horrified neighbors decried the latest incident outside their home, telling The Post that such vandalism won’t solve anything.

“They are protesting all these institutional investments in Israel — that’s what they say it is. It’s not helping the situation,” said one tenant, who didn’t want to be named.

“I’m not scared, just mad,” she added. “Protesting is great, but not like this.”

“It’s good to try and help people, but I don’t see this helps anyone. If you ask a Palestinian in Palestine, will they say this helped? I don’t think so,” said Jeff Drew, who has lived in the building since 1998.

“It sucks but you know we will clean it up, it sucks, it sucks,” he said of the vandalism.

“I’m more frustrated by people who think like paint is going to impact whatever they want changed.”

The Post reached out to Holloway but didn’t hear back immediately.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR METRO DAILY NEWSLETTER

A Columbia spokesperson said the Ivy League “unequivocally condemns vandalism, threats, and personal attacks.”

“Anyone engaging in such activity will be reported to law enforcement and face appropriate discipline,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“Every member of our community deserves to feel safe, valued, and able to thrive.”

The cricket, mealworm and paint onslaught unfolded hours before three Columbia University deans resigned from the Ivy League school after it emerged they sent disparaging texts during a panel discussion about antisemitism on campus.

Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik previously lambasted the trio’s texts that “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.”

Jewish Community Relations Council of NY CEO Mark Treyger ripped the latest act of vandalism in Brooklyn Heights, claiming that the “disgusting and despicable act” should be likened to attacks on Jews during the Holocaust.

“There is an orchestrated effort to disassociate Jewish identity from colleges, museums, hospitals and everyday life — which is straight out of the 1930’s Nazi playbook,” he said.

Referencing the red triangles specifically, Treyger added that such symbols are not “randomly scribbled shapes.”

“Red triangles were used as badges placed onto Jews by the Nazis in concentration camps during the Holocaust,” he said.

“This despicable and disgusting act reinforces what we already know.”

— Additional reporting by Amanda Woods

For the latest metro stories, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/metro/