The war in Gaza and the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State have fueled a spike in hate crimes against Jews and Muslims in New York City, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Wednesday.
Media coverage of the two major stories to emerge from the Mideast this summer contributed to a 50% combined jump in bias-related attacks against members of the two religions as well as other hate crimes, such as anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim graffiti, Bratton said.
“We have seen this before,” Bratton said following the NYPD’s annual High Holy Days briefing. “When there is attention paid to an issue it brings this about, and when there is continued attention, like it was with Gaza, which was stretched out for several weeks, we see a continuing increase.”
Hate crimes against Jews jumped from 64 through late summer in 2013 to 89 through the same point this year. Bias crimes against Muslims rose from seven through the same point in 2013 to 17 this year.
“A person normally not offended is offended and is moved to take action,” Deputy Chief Michael Osgood of the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force said of the effect of the Mideast violence.