New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday launched the state’s Hate and Bias Prevention Unit as a response to the increase in antisemitism in the United States.

The unit will be embedded in the New York Division of Human Rights and oversee public education and outreach. It will also be an early warning system for hate crimes in local communities, with part of its tasks including sending agents to the scenes of hate incidents.

“New York State will use every tool at its disposal to eliminate hate and bias from our communities,” Hochul said in a statement. “We will not let the rise in hate incidents that we see happening online, across the country and across the world, take root here at home.”

Also on Monday, Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Jewish leaders attended an event at Manhattan’s Lincoln Square Synagogue discussing the surge of antisemitism in the state.

“We’ll be judged by generations from now on how we stood up to violence and hatred at synagogues and schools,” Hochul said during the meeting. “This is not an issue for the Jewish community alone. You have reinforcements. You have friends. You have allies.”

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history, was also in attendance, noting: “Like all of you, I feel the same fear, the same dread, the same alarm, that past generations of Jews have felt when antisemitism rears its ugly head.”

According to local police data, antisemitic hate crimes in New York City increased by 125 percent over November 2021. Additionally, Federal Bureau of Investigation data has found that Jewish people are the target of nearly 60 percent of all religiously-motivated hate crimes. i24 News. 

Source: Matzav