Antisemitic property crimes have soared 85% in the Big Apple since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, new NYPD data shows.
There were 135 anti-Jewish hate crime complaints on property in the Big Apple from Oct. 7 through Dec. 10 — up dramatically from 73 in the same period last year.
A pair of menorahs sponsored by Chabad Sunset Park were desecrated in separate incidents earlier this month, leaving Rabbi Yanky Hecht shocked.
Surveillance footage showed a bicyclist shoving over a nine-foot-tall menorah on Fifth Avenue, while another displayed in the neighborhood’s namesake park was swiped in the wee hours before the first night of Hanukkah, and found smashed on the ground nearby.
“This is something intentional, in the heat of the moment, where people feel they have the right to lash out against Jewish people and Jewish symbols and it’s unacceptable,” Hecht said.
Menorahs displayed in public and sponsored by Chabad branches run by Hecht’s brother and brother-in-law in brownstone Brooklyn had also been vandalized in the lead-up to the Jewish Festival of Lights, he added.
Despite the surge in anti-Jewish attacks, the rabbi is still optimistic that Big Apple Jews will prove resilient.
“They don’t realize the Jewish people, when they face darkness, they become stronger and brighter than before,” he said.
Jeremy Lebewohl, the owner of 2nd Avenue Deli — which was defaced with a swastika on Oct. 17 — agreed. “We’re not going to be bullied or made to be scared,” said Lebewohl, who put up more Israeli flags after the incident.
