New York City has witnessed a troubling uptick in hate crimes following Hamas’ attack on Israel earlier this month, with nearly 60% of these despicable acts have been directed at the city’s Jewish community.

Since October 9, a total of 51 hate crimes have been reported in the city. Out of these incidents, 30 have been specifically targeted against Jewish victims, as revealed by NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny during a press briefing. This alarming statistic represents a stark increase compared to the same period in 2022 when only six anti-Jewish incidents were reported.

Despite reports of hate crimes generally showing a decrease in 2023 compared to the previous year, the numbers have been on the rise in the wake of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Kenny stated, “So for lack of a better term, we are seeing an increase in our decrease. Hate crime is still down, but since the incident in Gaza, there’s been an uptick.”

The recent acts of anti-Semitism have largely been characterized by incidents related to graffiti, criminal mischief, and aggravated harassment. Additionally, there have been a few reported assaults, with Kenny noting that “We’re seeing a lot of people getting slapped and getting pushed.”

Hate crimes have surged in Jewish communities, particularly in south Brooklyn and Forest Hills, Queens, with Kenny pointing out that many of these incidents appear to be random encounters rather than planned attacks. He stated, “A lot of the hateful acts seem to be chance encounters with people going through their day, and they happen to come across someone that feels the need to say something or attack.”

Additionally, the ADL Center for Extremism reported a nearly 1000% increase in violent messages mentioning Jews and/or Israel on Telegram. Also, the group said that it counted 312 antisemitic incidents in the US between October 7 and October 23, representing an almost 400% spike in comparison to the same period last year.

The NYPD’s press briefing coincided with the announcement of an arrest in a recent antisemitic attack within the city’s subway system. Christopher N D’Aguiar, 28, was charged with assault as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, assault, and harassment. He was accused of assaulting a 29-year-old woman at the 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue station on October 14, exactly a week after the Hamas attack. When questioned about the motive, the alleged attacker reportedly stated, “you are Jewish” before fleeing the scene.

Earlier that same week, an incident occurred at Columbia University, where a student, Maxwell Friedman, 19, was charged with hate crimes for allegedly striking a 24-year-old man with a wooden stick. This assault occurred after the victim confronted Friedman for tearing down flyers related to Israelis killed or kidnapped by Hamas.

In addition to these incidents, other antisemitic acts have included the defacement of the Jewish-owned 2nd Avenue Deli on the Upper East Side with a swastika, similar vandalism across the street, and the scrawling of the hateful message, “Kill the Jews,” at the 34th Street-Herald Square station.

The rise in reporting hate crimes is attributed to increased interactions between law enforcement and the Jewish community amid heightened tensions. Kenny emphasized the importance of community involvement, stating, “Our message to them was, ‘If you see something, say something.’ So, a lot of the calls we’re getting are 911 calls for suspicious vehicles or suspicious people. We go and investigate each one of those individually.” He further added, “Sometimes they do lead to a report being taken, which can be deemed a hate crime, and that’s showing our increase.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)