"Kill All the Jews": Antisemitic Attacks Explode by 182% in Mamdani’s First Month
Antisemitic hate crimes have nearly tripled in New York City during Mayor Zohran Mamdani's first month in office, as the NYPD reports that Jews are now targeted in over half of all bias incidents citywide.
New York City’s Jewish community is facing a surge of violence and harassment that has reached levels unseen in recent years. According to newly released data from the NYPD, antisemitic hate crimes skyrocketed by 182 percent in January 2026, the very same month that Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office. While the police department has celebrated historic lows in gun violence and homicides, the statistics for bias-motivated crimes paint a grim picture of a city divided. Jews, who make up roughly 10 percent of the population, were the victims of more than 53 percent of all reported hate crimes in January. This explosion in targeted hatred comes as the new mayoral administration faces intense scrutiny for its radical shift in policy toward Israel, including the revocation of measures meant to combat the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
A Month of Targeted Violence
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigated 31 anti-Jewish incidents in January, a massive jump from the 11 recorded during the same period last year. These figures indicate that Jews are being targeted at a rate more than four times higher than the next most-impacted group, New York’s Muslim community, which saw seven reported incidents. The violence has been both brazen and physical, occurring in broad daylight across multiple boroughs. In Forest Hills, Queens, a rabbi was verbally harassed with antisemitic slurs before being punched in the face and chest on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement was the site of a terrifying vehicle-ramming attack, where a man repeatedly drove a car into the building's doors while a celebratory crowd of 1,000 people was inside.
Earlier in the month, a Jewish family was stalked and harassed by a woman who screamed "kill all the Jews" before punching the father. These incidents have created an atmosphere of deep-seated fear, particularly as Jewish leaders point to a lack of clear condemnation from the Mayor's office regarding radical slogans like "globalize the intifada," which many view as a direct call for attacks on Jews worldwide. Critics argue that the Mayor’s refusal to distance himself from such rhetoric has signaled a new era of permission for antisemites to act on their prejudices.
The Policy Shift and Political Fallout
The timing of this wave of hate is inextricably linked to the first executive actions of the Mamdani administration. On his first day in office, Mayor Mamdani issued an order revoking several directives from the previous administration, including the city's formal recognition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. He also scrapped an order that prohibited mayoral appointees and city agencies from boycotting or divesting from Israel. Jewish community leaders warn that by removing these protections, the Mayor has effectively legitimized antisemitic tropes that masquerade as political criticism.
While Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch highlighted that overall crime, including retail theft and school-zone violence, has dropped significantly under a "data-driven strategy," the failure to stem the tide of religious bias remains a glaring exception. Mayor Mamdani has publicly advocated for New York City to divest from Israel Bonds and has even suggested he would seek the arrest of the Israeli Prime Minister if he ever visited the city. For many New Yorkers, the message is clear: the city’s leadership has prioritized a radical anti-Israel agenda over the safety of its Jewish citizens. As the war against terrorists continues abroad, the streets of New York have become a secondary front in a battle of ideologies that shows no signs of cooling down.