Anti-Semitic crimes in New York City were nearly 300 percent higher in January when compared to the same month in previous years, according to NYPD statistics reported by Fox News.
A total of 15 hate crimes targeting Jewish people were reported in January—a 275 percent increase compared to the four incidents in January 2021, stated the report.
The number of incidents continues to rise in February with the swastika vandalism of yeshivah school buses and an attack on a Jewish man, which both took place on Jan. 4 in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force said it is investigating the separate attacks.
“The Jewish community is on the extreme edge and this violence has got to stop,” said Scott Richman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey, on Sunday. “It is becoming normalized, and we simply cannot accept that as the state of affairs.”
The ADL is offering a $7,500 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and the conviction of those responsible for the two crimes on Friday. A second assault against a visibly Jewish person reportedly took place also in the same area on Friday but few details are known about the attack, according to the ADL.
In 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, 116 complaints about hate crimes against Jews were reported, and of the 93 people arrested for hate crimes that year, 25 of them allegedly targeted Jewish people, the NYPD statistics also revealed.
In comparison, 242 complaints involving hate crimes against Jewish people were recorded in 2019. Of the 133 people arrested for hate crimes that year, 47 allegedly committed them against Jews.
