New York has seen a spike in hate crimes since Hamas’s attack on Israel earlier this month — with nearly 60% of the acts targeting the Jewish community, an NYPD official said Tuesday.
At least 51 hate crimes have been reported in the city since Oct. 9 — two days after the Hamas terrorist group’s unprecedented raid — and 30 of them were against Jewish victims, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a press briefing.
“Of those 51 incidents, 30 of them were anti-Jewish. So, that’s where our increase over the last period is sitting,” Kenny said.
During the same period in 2022, only six anti-Jewish incidents were reported, he told reporters.
Reports of hate crimes had been on the decline so far in 2023 compared to last year – but that number has been on the rise as the conflict rages in the Middle East, according to the police official.
“So, for lack of a better term, we are seeing an increase in our decrease,” Kenny said. “Hate crime is still down, but since the incident in Gaza, there’s been an uptick.”
The majority of the recent antisemitic acts have been related to graffiti, criminal mischief, and aggravated harassment, “basically almost bordering on free speech where people are yelling back and forth at each other until it takes a weird turn,” Kenny said.
A small amount of assaults have been reported, he added.
“We’re seeing a lot of people getting slapped and getting pushed,” Kenny said.
While cops have seen increases in hate crimes in Jewish communities, including in south Brooklyn and Forest Hills, Queens, Kenny said overall, 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.”
The press briefing came as police on Tuesday announced an arrest in a recent antisemitic attack on the subway system.
Christopher N D’Aguiar, 28, was charged with assault as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, assault, and harassment for allegedly clobbering a 29-year-old woman inside the No. 7 train passageway at the 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue station at around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 — exactly a week after Hamas’s terror attack.
When the shocked victim asked her attacker why he had randomly slugged her without provocation, he allegedly responded it was because “you are Jewish” before running off, according to police.
Source: Hamodia