It has been clear for some time that antisemitic hate crimes have been rising in New York City. The Jewish community has worked hard to bring attention to the increasingly commonplace verbal and physical attacks, many of which aren’t even officially reported. For his part, Mayor Bill de Blasio has tried equally hard to ignore the problem, which is quite a feat. According to New York Police Department data, 185 of the City’s 354 hate crimes in 2018 were antisemitic, while in 2019, 234 of its 428 hate crimes were.
De Blasio has occasionally given lip service to the issue, when events like December’s attack on a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, NJ, forced his hand. However, it is members of the New York City Council, not the mayor, who have been leading efforts to beat back the world’s oldest hatred.
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