Jewish New Yorkers face a disproportionate share of the city’s hate crimes
The New York Police Department said Monday that anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York City rose 8.5% in the first seven months of 2026, to 205 from 189 during the same period in 2025. The increase comes amid heightened levels of antisemitism around the world since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.
New York City, which has the largest Jewish population of any city outside Israel, recorded more than half of all hate crimes in the city as anti-Jewish, despite Jewish New Yorkers comprising 10% of the city’s population, according to the NYPD. Even as the number of hate crimes rose overall, the city saw decreases in most major crimes, including record lows in shootings and murders.
Nationally, antisemitic incidents decreased in the U.S. overall in 2025 after reaching a record high in 2024, but they have remained at elevated levels since 2021, according to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group.
Since Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office this year, some Jewish New Yorkers have voiced concerns that his strident criticism of Israel has made them less safe in their own city. Jewish leaders say those fears have intensified in recent weeks after the mayor called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, days later, a Jewish man was stabbed in Manhattan in an alleged hate crime.
“This is a mayor who has spent his career using divisive rhetoric, particularly aimed at the Jewish community,” said Assemblyman Sam Berger, a Democrat and Orthodox Jew from Queens. “Something we have seen throughout his mayoralty is that rather than pulling back from his rhetoric, he has leaned in to it,” Berger said. He said Mamdani’s views on Israel have become a frequent topic of conversation with his constituents. “Whether I’m praying at shul, shopping at the grocery store or even dropping my kids off at school, people come up to me to express their concerns with the mayor’s comments,” he said.
Asked about the rise in hate crimes, Mamdani said Monday that his administration is working to root out antisemitism. “It will never be tolerated, it will never be accepted, and we know that this is something that we have to fight with every single tool at our disposal,” he said, adding that his administration has increased funding for the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.
Nearly a week before the stabbings, Mamdani said in an interview that he had asked his legal team to see if he had the authority to order the arrest of Netanyahu on an International Criminal Court warrant if the prime minister were to come to New York City. The remarks drew skepticism and questions about his motives. Many legal scholars had previously said he did not have the power to order an arrest.
The suspect in the recent Manhattan attacks, who was shouting “Allahu akbar” — an Arabic phrase that translates to “God is greater” — also stabbed an Asian man, according to police officials. Several Jewish leaders and elected officials held a press conference after the attack, urging the mayor and others to dial down their rhetoric. Some Jewish leaders have also had private conversations with the Mamdani administration about his rhetoric.
The mayor later released a video acknowledging the limits of his authority, but he called Netanyahu a war criminal and urged the federal government to make the arrest. Netanyahu has since accused the mayor of “fomenting hate.”
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents the largest Jewish denomination in the country, chastised the mayor for his “performative fixation” on Netanyahu. “Mayor Mamdani’s apparent obsession with attacking Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu places Jewish New Yorkers further at risk from those who are emboldened by his demonizing rhetoric,” Jacobs said in a statement.
Mark Treyger, chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said there was no serious governing strategy behind the video other than to generate online clicks. The video has been viewed over 100 million times on X. “No one is asking him to become a Zionist,” Treyger said. “We’re asking him to be the mayor for all New Yorkers because that is not the feeling that people are experiencing right now.”
Mamdani was a fierce critic of Israel during last year’s mayoral race, accusing its government of committing genocide in Gaza and calling for Palestine to have the right to self-determination, and he has not shied away from those views since taking office. In January, some Jewish leaders criticized him for being slow to condemn protesters who shouted pro-Hamas chants outside a Jewish synagogue in Queens. In May, he opted not to participate in the city’s Israel Day parade, citing his support of Palestine — a break from the custom of previous mayors, who had attended the event.
Mamdani has emphasized that he is a mayor for all New Yorkers, including Jewish residents, and has highlighted various security measures his administration has taken to ensure the safety of the Jewish community. After the stabbing of a Jewish man on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, he said: “We know that while Jewish New Yorkers comprise a minority of all New Yorkers, they comprise the majority of the victims of all hate crimes, and it is unacceptable.”
Polls indicate that public sentiment on Israel is shifting, with many U.S. voters growing frustrated with Netanyahu. Several progressive congressional candidates — including three endorsed by Mamdani — recently won Democratic primaries after accusing Israel of genocide and criticizing incumbents with ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group and major campaign donor.