Antisemitic incidents in New York City spike since start of Israel-Hamas war, NYPD says
New York City has experienced a spike of antisemitic incidents in the weeks following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the NYPD.
While overall bias incidents against Jewish people have declined about 6% for all of 2023, in the days after the start of the latest Mideast hostilities, such incidents have risen nearly fivefold, to 30, compared with six in the same period last year, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny during a briefing Tuesday with reporters.
Oct. 7 marked the start of the latest hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
Many of the recent incidents in the city have involved assaults, criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, some of them clustered in areas of South Brooklyn and Forest Hills, Kenny said. There have not been any specific attacks involving synagogues, he said.
Regarding Palestinians, the department does not break out the group as a category victimized by bias attacks but includes them under the heading of "anti-ethnic" targets.
For 2023, bias attacks against Jewish people totaled 196, compared to 208 for the same period in 2022, Kenny said. The latest upsurge in incidents was an indication that the overall decrease is seeing a reversal, he said.
In a separate briefing, Chief of Patrol John Chell noted the city has had to cope with numerous demonstrations since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, with about 70,000 participants in total.
There have been a total of 233 arrests stemming from the demonstrations, Chell said.
Department officials had required all uniformed personnel to report in uniform to cope with the crush of demonstrations, but that order was rescinded on Sunday, he explained.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
