Bill De Blasio: Trump's Rhetoric 'Directly Connects' To Increase In Anti-Semitic Incidents

NEW YORK, NY — NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said the rise in anti-Semitic incidents locally and nationwide was the "result of the election" of Donald Trump, just one day after Trump berated a Jewish reporter who asked about the increase.

De Blasio said during his weekly appearance on Brian Lehrer's show on WYNC that the increase in biased crimes and incidents is "very troubling."

"No one should mince words about it," de Blasio said Friday morning. "The horrible, hateful rhetoric that was used in this election by candidate Trump and by a lot of his supporters directly connects to an increase since the election in anti-Semitic incidents, anti-Muslim incidents and anti-LGBT incidents."

De Blasio, who has styled himself as one Trump's most aggressive opponents among big-city mayors, addressed the uptick in hate incidents one day after the president's wide-ranging and erratic press conference during which he told a Jewish reporter who asked about anti-Semitism to "sit down" before insisting he was "the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life."

In addition to the increase in hate crimes, Jewish communities throughout the U.S. have been rocked by a wave of bomb threats called into at least 48 Jewish community centers during January.

At a press conference on crime last week, de Blasio said the initial uptick in hate crimes in the city appeared to have "leveled off" since the election. He said on Friday that the NYPD would "forcefully confront" biased incidents and support affected communities with additional police presence as necessary.