Pro-Israel alarm grows as antisemitism surges, exposing policy failures and emboldening extremists targeting Jews openly.
Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City surged dramatically in January 2026, with police recording a 182% year-over-year increase. According to data released by the New York City Police Department, investigators handled 31 antisemitic incidents last month—more than half of all hate crimes citywide.
By comparison, seven anti-Muslim hate crimes were recorded in January, far fewer than those targeting Jews and still below the number of antisemitic incidents logged a year earlier. The imbalance highlights a uniquely severe and accelerating threat to the city’s Jewish population, the largest in the United States.
The spike coincides with the first month of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration. Critics point to early policy reversals, including the revocation of city recognition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, as weakening institutional safeguards against antisemitism masked as political activism.
Recent incidents underscore the danger: a rabbi assaulted in Forest Hills on Holocaust Remembrance Day, a vehicle ramming the doors of a synagogue in Crown Heights, and a Jewish family harassed with explicit death threats. Jewish leaders warn that delegitimizing Israel and “Zionists” has translated directly into violence against Jews in the streets.
Community advocates argue that failure to confront antisemitism decisively—especially when cloaked in ideological rhetoric—invites further attacks and endangers New York’s social fabric.
