The Troubling Prevalence of Antisemitic Attacks in Brooklyn

What we can learn from the NYPD’s hate crime statistics.

By
7

The FBI recently reported hate crime data for 2020 showing that Jews remain widely susceptible to attacks. Fifty-eight percent of religiously motivated attacks in 2020 involved Jewish victims, accounting for 9 percent of all hate crimes last year. While those numbers look grim for a group that makes up only about 2 percent of the American population, they actually mark a slight improvement. During pre-pandemic 2019, when more Americans were regularly out and about, 63 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes targeted Jews, making up 13 percent of that year’s total. 

The FBI’s crime statistics offer only a partial picture, though. Not only do they not account for non-criminal antisemitic incidents, they also don’t explain what happens after hate crimes are reported. It takes some time for the justice system to address arrestees, so it’s worth looking back to 2019, the last “normal” year for which data exists. New York City offers a good entry point, since NYPD consistently collects hate crime data.

New Yorkers reported 419 hate crimes to the NYPD in 2019. Of those, 242 incidents, or nearly 58 percent, were antisemitic in nature. And among those 242 reported crimes, 121—exactly half—were Brooklyn-based. 

The true numbers are surely even higher. A 2020 American Jewish Committee report on domestic antisemitism found that 76 percent of American Jews who had experienced antisemitism in the preceding five years never formally reported their experiences.

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
7
By
Comments (7)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Is drawing a swastika a hate crime? Or is there more context? Did someone draw a swastika and then attack a Jew? What if the swastika was part of a larger painting? Literally every WWII book or film has a swastika somewhere on the cover. And honestly, even if it was just a swastika, the First Amendment protects speech. Even Nazi speech.

    Collapse
  2. Token Liberal

    As a Jewish person, I am keenly aware that it is awesome to be Jewish in the United States. But history has taught us to be vigilant when it comes to antisemitism. The part about antisemitism that I find confounding and somehow a bit humorous, is that we get hated on by all sides. Not that many groups get it from the left and the right. Such a privilege!

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    It is troubling that we have such high crime stats of Antisemitism indeed among minorities and majorities in this country.

    Jews have been the number one target of hate crimes for over a decade. Even then, they are still a thriving class and have been for far, far longer in America.

    Collapse
  4. Daniel Rabiner

    There's a ton that's wrong with this article:

    1. Why do we care what the overall population of Jews in America are but not what the population of Jews in Brooklyn are since the entire article is about Brooklyn? I'm Jewish, my uncle lives in Brooklyn. It's 25%. So they're over-represented by 2x, not 25x (if you compared the hate-crime stats for Brooklyn with the US population).
    2. Ending Broken Windows? Does that include stop and frisk which is unconstitutional?
    3. How do you want to reform Bail Reform? Bail Reform's purpose is to make public safety front and center and not ability to pay.
    4. Why should antisememtic hate crimes be prioritized over any other hate crimes or other crimes? You didn't show that there are different levels of enforcement between these different types of crimes.
    5. Isn't it Felder's job to build a relationship with the DA as much as it is the DA's job to build a relationship with the Jewish community? And anytime someone starts a phrase with "I'm not saying he's an antisemite but...." then he's saying he's an antisemite.
    6. How many Holocaust survivors are there at this point to where that point even resonates? My grandparents were Holocaust survivors but they've been dead for 25 years and they were about 20 when they left the camps. There can't be more than 100-200 at this point in the United States I presume.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      “ There are around 400,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide and about 85,000 in the United States alone,…”
      This is from a Time article in 2020 on the effects of the pandemic on these people.
      The takeaway from the article I had was that a problem 2000 years old still exists with little attention being paid to it. Also note that the rate of criminal activity is low for Jews.

      Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Tricia Stevenson

    This makes me so very sad. But thank you for reporting it - it is IMPORTANT.

    Collapse
  6. R. James

    There is always a gap between arrests and prosecutions. Arrests are made on the basis of probable cause. Criminal charges should be filed if the DA believes that the case can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

    Collapse