Tunnel under New York synagogue does not connect to a children’s museum

A claim that tunnels found beneath a synagogue in New York are connected to a children’s museum has been circulating online. However the city’s Department of Buildings has confirmed this is not true. 

One post on X (formerly Twitter), which has more than 11,000 shares, has the caption: “The underground Jewish tunnels found in New York are connected to the local ‘Children’s Museum’ DISTURBING STUFF”.  

The claim has also been shared widely on Facebook. 

This comes after a tunnel found under a historic synagogue in Brooklyn—the Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters—resulted in a dispute at the site leading to several arrests.

While the Jewish Children’s Museum is located across the road from the headquarters, it is not true that the tunnel connected to the museum or had entrances outside it. Full Fact has contacted the museum for comment and will update the article if we hear back. 

The NYC Department of Buildings confirmed to Full Fact that the tunnel is linear, around 18 metres long and did not cross the road to the area where the children’s museum is located. 

It said the “illegally excavated” underground tunnel is directly below a single-storey extension that connects four neighbouring buildings: 784 and 786 Eastern Parkway, 302 Kingston Avenue and 1457 Union Street. The tunnel they found does not connect to the Jewish Children’s Museum, which is at 792 Eastern Parkway. 

The department told us it has “issued emergency work orders to stabilize the buildings above the tunnel, vacate orders in parts of the buildings to ensure occupant safety, and enforcement actions against the property owners for the illegal work”. 

The New York Police Department (NYPD) told Full Fact it was called to the scene on 8 January after reports that a group had “unlawfully entered” the synagogue by damaging a wall. Nine people were arrested and charged for crimes such as ‘criminal mischief’ and ‘reckless endangerment’. 

The Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters said its “community is pained by the vandalism of a group of young agitators who damaged the synagogue below Chabad Headquarters”, and that “these odious actions will be investigated, and the sanctity of the synagogue will be restored”. 

Full Fact has written about another instance of misinformation relating to the discovery of this tunnel—a fabricated image was shared online with the claim the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) listed a cement truck as an antisemitic hate symbol.