Newly released police data shows that there has been a nearly 50 percent increase in anti-Semitic crime in New York City in the first four months of this year.
According to data released by the New York Police Department, both New York City and New Jersey have become hotspots for anti-Semitic related crime.
A 45 percent increase in hate crimes towards Jewish people has been reported by city officials, according to the New York Post.
As of April 2024, 96 such hate incidents have been reported across the Big Apple – a stark rise from the 66 that were reported during the same time period last year, according to the police department statistics.
According to data released by the New York Police Department, both New York City and New Jersey have become hotspots for anti-Semitic related crime. A woman is seen mocking the Israeli flag during a protest in April near Wall Street
Hundreds of people gather in front of Radio City Music Hall in New York to stage a demonstration protesting US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel
Pro-Palestine supporters burn and tear an Israeli flag in counter protest to a Rally for Israel in Times Square, Manhattan, New York
Police Commissioner Edward Caban said Wednesday at a pre-Passover security briefing explained: ‘The terror attacks on October 7th changed the public safety landscape, and we’re still feeling the ripple effects of that terrible day.’
According to the Anti-Defamation League, between October 7 and the end of 2023, the agency recorded 5,204 incidents – more than the incident total for the whole of 2022.
The NYPD has also announced that security at Jewish institutions will increase next week as Passover begins.
Kehilath Jeshurun from the Upper East Side, told CBS that they will be among the synagogues working with police to step up patrols for Passover.
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz also told the channel: ‘Passover is a holiday that is the festival of freedom, and it’s one in which we have to show that we’re worthy of freedom.
‘We have people here that are watching and guarding all the time. We have various technology that comes and watches over us, and it’s tragic.’
This comes two months after reports of Jewish family being targeted with foul-mouthed harassment in a New Jersey mall emerged.
A demonstrator is seen as people gather to stage a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Times Square and march to the Washington Square Park in New York
Police take security measures as hundreds of pro-Palestinian supporters gather in front of Radio City Music Hall
On New Year’s Day, mother Adi Vaxman was with her husband and two of their children, ages 12 and 16, at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, where the family hoped to play a round of mini-golf.
As they walked through the dense holiday crowds, a young man and woman began hurling obscenities at her daughter, who was wearing a jacket with the logo of the Israeli Defense Forces, which had been a gift from the girl’s veteran grandfather.
‘We hear a man calling and screaming, “free Palestine, f*** Israel, f*** you, you w**re” — “you b***h,” he was calling my daughter,’ Vaxman recalled in a phone interview on Tuesday.
‘The crazy thing is that the mall was packed, and there were dozens of people kind of in a circle around us watching. Just watching. Nobody said anything. Nobody did anything. Nobody called security,’ she added.
Mother Adi Vaxman is speaking out after her family was subjected to anti-Jewish harassment over her daughter’s IDF jacket, a gift from her grandfather. Pictured, left to right: 16-year-old daughter Maya Vaxman-Magid (wearing the jacket), mother Adi Vaxman, father Ronen Magid, 12-year-old son Ethan Vaxman-Magid, and their older son Tavorr Vaxman-Magid
Video first shared on X by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism shows part of the disturbing confrontation, with a young woman and man both screaming obscenities at the Jewish family.
Vaxman said that a clip that shows her phone falling to the ground came after the female aggressor tried to ‘punch’ her and hit her phone instead, knocking it from her hand.
She said that her family quickly left the mall without calling police or security, after the incident deeply unsettled their son and teen daughter, whom she says ‘couldn’t sleep all night’ and was ‘very shaken’.
‘Our family is all IDF veterans, so we’re very proud of it,’ Vaxman said of the jacket her daughter was wearing, noting that her brother and cousin had both been called up from the IDF reserves in Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
‘We are proud of standing up for who we are and what’s important to us, and nobody will take that away from us. No one,’ added the mom, who founded a non-profit dedicated to supporting IDF troops following the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
‘My grandparents are Holocaust survivors and they had to hide — I’m not hiding,’ she said, explaining the family’s decision to speak out publicly after the ordeal.
‘Nobody has the right to tell me what to wear and what not to wear. Nobody needs to cause me to hide my Jewish identity,’ she added. ‘We don’t just walk around attacking people who are wearing ‘Free Palestine’ shirts, but they’re walking around attacking us.’
‘They have no right to attack anyone,’ she said. ‘Nobody’s entitled to be violent. Nobody’s entitled to go after other people’s freedom.’
A Jewish family of four was subjected to foul-mouthed harassment at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey, according to video of the incident shared by a watchdog group
‘Free Palestine ’til I f***ing die b***h!’ a young woman is heard screaming at the family in the video
StopAntisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez told DailyMail.com in a statement: ‘Incidents like these contribute to a violent atmosphere that has propelled antisemitic hate crimes to new highs. They must be universally condemned if we are ever to return to public discourse that does not target or threaten Jews.’
Rez attributed the incident to the ‘Free Palestine’ movement, which she said ‘has generated so much hatred and division in America that a Jewish family can’t walk through a shopping mall without being accosted.’
The video of the incident posted on X shows the confrontation already underway, with a young man and woman screaming at the family.
‘Leave her alone, leave her alone!’ the Jewish father is heard saying as he steps in between the Palestinian supporters and his family.
The Jewish mother, who appears to be filming the incident, is heard saying: ‘You’re attacking me, you attacked me and dropped my phone!’
The female aggressor responds: ‘You’re recording me without my permission! It’s free Palestine ’til I f***ing die b***h! Free Palestine ’til I f***ing die b***h! Free Palestine, you should be embarrassed you’re supporting genocide!’
Demonstrators on their way to flood a subway platform to ride to Wall Street area where New York Governor Kathy Hochul spoke in a restaurant
Israeli airstrikes have reduced much of Gaza to rubble and engulfed its 2.3 million residents in a humanitarian crisis, in which many thousands have been left displaced and threatened by famine due to a lack of food supplies
The Jewish father is seen herding his family away from the abusive rant, and shouting back ‘What genocide?’
‘Leave her alone, leave her alone,’ the dad is heard saying. ‘Leave this s**t alone.’
The Jewish mother chimes in: ‘You’re cursing my child! You’re cursing my child!’
‘I’m cursing you,’ says the male harasser. ‘I’m cursing you and your bulls**t husband.’
The female harasser goes on to say she is also a minor. The confrontation devolves into a screaming match that is difficult to clearly hear, as the Jewish mother questions whether the harassers have ever been to the Palestinian territories.
‘There’s no such thing as Palestine, it’s a made up lie!’ the Jewish mother is heard shouting before the video clip ends.
The disturbing incident is the latest example of flaring tensions in the US since Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 and taking hundreds more hostage.
Israel responded with air strikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, which the enclave’s Hamas-led health ministry says has killed at least 22,000.
Israeli airstrikes have reduced much of the territory to rubble and engulfed its 2.3 million residents in a humanitarian crisis, in which many thousands have been left displaced and threatened by famine due to a lack of food supplies.
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