Mayor Adams donates $5K of own money for info on anti-Israel ‘cowards’ who defaced WWI memorial: ‘I love America’

A furious Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday contributed $5,000 of his own money toward the reward being offered for information leading to the bust of the anti-Israel “cowards’’ who defaced a local war memorial.

“In spite of the unpopular notion, I’m going to say it, ‘I love America,'” Adams said at a press conference held in front of the historic Central Park World War I monument — which a mob spray-painted and plastered with anti-Israel stickers the night before.

“We cannot remain silent when our symbols of freedom are desecrated by individuals who clearly hate our country and way of life,” he said. “I am not going to remain silent because our silence gives the belief that everything is OK.

“The same rights that they are calling for — they are desecrating the lives of people who have fought for them,’’ he said of the protesters. “I want to show all New Yorkers that our city will not tolerate chaos and disorder.

“I’m not just putting my money where my mouth is. I’m going to put my money where my heart is.’’

The mayor said he was donating the cash in honor of his 19-year-old “Uncle Joe,’’ who died in the Vietnam War.

The money was added to $10,000 from Crime Stoppers for a total of $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those behind the heinous vandalism, which included the burning of an American flag.

The mayor, flanked by some of his top police brass and city commissioners, said fliers were being distributed in the area with images of the criminals, who were part of a massive violent demonstration against Israel’s war in Gaza.

“We are going to canvas this area. We are going to treat this crime with the seriousness it deserves,” he said.

“This is a top priority for us to solve this crime. … There’s a few social media leads we have, and we’re going to continue to focus on that. We’re asking whoever witnessed anything to please let the New York City Police Department know.”

The mob was cut off by cops before it could reach the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art and disrupt the star-studded Met Gala being held there — so it turned its sights on the 107th Infantry Memorial and another Civil War-era statue in the park. Park workers cleaned off the graffiti Tuesday.

Zach Iscol, a former Marine, Iraqi War vet and the city’s current commissioner of Emergency Management, emotionally spoke about taking his son to Normandy in France last year for the 79th anniversary of the storming of its beaches during World War II.

Iscol said that on his way to Tuesday’s press conference, he printed out some of the names of the young men who died in World War I.

“I thought about my battalion. … We lost 33 Marines in combat, over half our battalion, 576 Marines, were wounded. … I think about what we owe them,’’ he said.

City Veterans Services Commissioner Lt. Col. James Hendon added, “What is bitter in its irony is that all who sacrificed and all who died would sacrifice and die again in order to protect the rights and freedoms of the very people who burned this flag and vandalized this monument.’’

Additional reporting by Tina Moore, Craig McCarthy and Jack Morphet