Antisemitic hate crimes dropped last month compared to Oct. 2023, when attacks against Jews surged following the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of Israel, according to NYPD data.
Jews were still targeted far more than any other group in October 2024, as they have been every month for the past year. NYPD statistics released on Thursday showed Jews were targeted in 33 incidents in October, accounting for 45% of all bias incidents in New York City.
But that figure was far below the 55 incidents reported to police in Oct. 2023, a 22% decrease. It is slightly higher than the 29 antisemitic hate crimes reported in September 2024.
The announcement came as Gov. Kathy Hochul, on Thursday, announced the start of a campaign called “Call Out Hate” that will place placards in the subway and train cars, and in transit stations, encouraging New Yorkers to report hate crimes and making them aware of the pathways for reporting offered by the state, including a website and phone hotline.
“Hate has no place in our state — and we’re making sure New Yorkers know how to call it out when they see it,” Hochul said in a post on X.
Hate crimes against other groups, by contrast, increased 60% year-over-year in October. Last month, there were six crimes each against Asians and Black people, one based on gender, one targeting Hispanic people, five against Muslims, six based on sexual orientation, two against other religious groups and eight targeting other ethnicities.
The figures represent preliminary police data and are subject to change if, for example, an investigation finds that an altercation that had appeared discriminatory was not actually motivated by bigotry. Not every reported hate crime results in an arrest or prosecution. The legal standard for proving bias is high, making prosecution difficult.
NYPD data released last month showed that antisemitic crimes surged earlier this year, compared to the period before Oct. 7. From the beginning of 2024 through Sept. 30, Jews were targeted in at least 275 hate crimes, compared to 158 incidents during the same period last year. The sum was an increase of 117 incidents, or 74%.
That spike in antisemitic attacks also fueled an overall 30% rise in hate crimes against all groups in the city this year, an NYPD statement said. The statement added that the increase was “not unrelated to the fury and vitriol” present at thousands of protests in the city, many of them surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
The monthly rate of antisemitic hate crimes has fluctuated in the past year, from 62 in November 2023 to 17 in February of this year and 55 in May.
Several post-Oct. 7 incidents are being pursued by prosecutors, including one in which a suspect allegedly punched a Jewish Israeli near Times Square while shouting antisemitic epithets in mid-October of last year. In another incident, in April, a man was charged with a slew of hate crimes after aiming his moving car at Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn.
On Tuesday, Brooklyn prosecutors said they had charged suspects with “making a terroristic threat as a hate crime” for allegedly vandalizing the home of the Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish director. The charge appeared to be related to inverted red triangles, a Hamas symbol, that were sprayed on the museum official’s front door, marking a change in how law enforcement handles the symbol.
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