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Hate crimes have spiked citywide since conflict exploded earlier this month in the Middle East, sending ripples around the world, according to the NYPD.
Prior to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, hate crimes were down 21% across the five boroughs compared to the same time frame last year, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in a news briefing.
But last week alone saw 51 hate crimes, putting a dent in this year’s progress. They are now down just 13% when comparing 2023 and 2022, according to Kenny.
Of the dozens of bias crimes last week, 30 were antisemitic. During the same seven-day stretch last year, there were seven such crimes.
There were four attacks against Palestinian people last week, compared to two such incidents in the same time frame last year.
Despite the uptick, hate crimes are still down overall, Kenny emphasized. He attributed the spike to the possibility more people are reporting such crimes amid headlines about Israel’s war on Hamas.
“For lack of a better term, we are saying [there’s] an increase in our decrease,” Kenny said.
As of Oct. 15, 385 people had been the victim of a hate crime, according the NYPD. At the same time last year, 512 people had filed hate crime complaints..
In response to the violence in the Middle East, law enforcement officials in the city and across the state have bolstered security.
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Rocco Parascandola, Elizabeth Keogh
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