Posted on 03/09/22
| News Source: i24
'We are developing an action plan with community leaders to address this spike in hate crimes'
Antisemitic crimes in New York shot up by 400 percent last month when compared to numbers from a year prior, according to data published by the state’s police department.
The New York Police Department’s statistics showed 56 antisemitic hate crimes occurred during February of this year, an uptick from the 11 incidents recorded in the same period last year.
The rise in antisemitic crime is drawing alarm from a number of New York officials, who are voicing their concern.
Brooklyn City Council member Lincoln Restler spoke out against the increase in attacks on New York’s Jewish communities, and said that the data “breaks my heart.”
“We are developing an action plan with community leaders to address this spike in hate crimes and build bridges across our communities to deepen cross cultural understanding and respect,” the official announced to The New York Jewish Week on Tuesday.
Additionally, the NYPD data indicated crimes increased overall across every major classification - with robberies up by 56 percent and a 79 percent increase in grand larcenies.
In February, New York City Mayor Eric Adams spoke on the issue after a weekend of antisemitic attacks, vowing to hold criminals accountable for their hate crimes.