Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes Nearly Double In NYC

NEW YORK — Hate crimes against Jewish people in New York City nearly doubled in the first four months of this year as the city grappled with an overall spike in hate-fueled attacks.

The NYPD had recorded 82 anti-Semitic hate crimes as of April 30, up from just 45 in the same period last year. Those incidents account for more than half of the 145 hate crimes the city saw in that period, which marks a 67% increase from 2018, police statistics released Thursday show.

The NYPD unveiled the new total less than a week after an anti-Semitic gunman killed one person and injured three others on Saturday at a synoagogue in Poway, California.

While Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said it would be premature to try and identify the cause of the city's increase, Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed to the emergence of "nativist forces."

"The forces of white supremacy have been unleashed, and as you know those are profoundly anti-Semitic forces," the Democratic mayor said. "... A lot of folks used to be told it was unacceptable to be anti-Semitic, it was unacceptable to be racist, and now they're getting more permission."

The spike has come alongside a doubling of arrests for hate crimes — there were 65 of them as of April 28, up from 32 last year, NYPD figures show. That figure includes 26 collars for anti-Semitic hate crimes.

About 80% of the anti-Semitic crimes involve "the drawing of swastikas" throughout the city, Shea said. But more than 40%, or 28, of this year's hate crime arrests have been for second- or third-degree assault, police statistics show.

The figures mark a continued increase in hate crimes — over 350 were reported through late December 2018, more than half of which were anti-Semitic.

Hate crimes have risen despite a recent overall drop in the seven most serious crimes: Murder, rape, burglary, felony assault, robbery, grand larceny and auto thefts.

The NYPD recorded 6,891 of those crimes in April, the fewest for that month since the department started using its CompStat system, police officials said.

The month also saw a record low of 17 murders, though murders were up 2.3% through the first four months of this year with a total of 88, NYPD figures show.