NYC antisemitic hate crimes jump 182% in January, Mamdani’s first month in office

Police said offenses targeting Jews made up the majority of hate crimes reported citywide during the month.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City surged in January, with police data showing a 182% increase compared to the same month last year and Jews targeted in more than half of all reported hate incidents across the city.

The spike in cases came as New York City entered the first weeks of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, a period that has prompted discussion in the city, home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, about the trajectory of antisemitism.

Data released by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and cited by the Jewish News Syndicate showed investigators recorded 31 antisemitic incidents in January 2026, compared with 11 during the same month in 2025.

Police said offenses targeting Jews made up the majority of hate crimes reported citywide during the month.

Other categories of hate crime were far lower. Seven anti-Muslim incidents were logged in January, a figure below both the current antisemitic total and the number of antisemitic cases recorded a year earlier. No anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported in January 2025.

Several incidents during the month drew public attention. In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, video showed a man repeatedly ramming a vehicle into the doors of the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters synagogue. Earlier in January, a Jewish family was reportedly followed by a woman who shouted threats against Jews before punching the father. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, a rabbi in the Forest Hills section of Queens was approached by a suspect who yelled antisemitic slurs, struck him, and knocked him to the ground.

Policy decisions also drew scrutiny. On his first day in office, Mamdani rescinded executive directives signed after September 26, 2024, including recognition of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and an order barring city officials from participating in boycotts or disinvestment campaigns against Israel. Critics said removing those measures could open space for antisemitism framed as political opposition to Israel and Zionists.