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In a concerning trend, reports of antisemitic incidents in New York City surged in January, nearly tripling, even as overall crime figures hit unprecedented lows, according to recent data from the police released on Tuesday.
Hate crimes targeting Jewish individuals saw a dramatic increase of 182%, with 31 incidents reported compared to just 11 in January of the previous year, the NYPD reported. These incidents represented more than half of the total hate crimes, which reached 56, marking a 152% rise from the same period last year.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for the New York and New Jersey area described the 182% increase in antisemitic incidents as “staggering” in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Instances ranging from swastikas defacing a playground in Boro Park to a car being driven into the Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights have left the Jewish community in NYC deeply unsettled,” stated Scott Richman, the ADL’s regional director. “We call on Mayor Mamdani to swiftly appoint the next head of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, ensuring they are someone who can both represent this multifaceted Jewish community and address all forms of antisemitism decisively.”
A general view captures the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters on Thursday, January 29, 2026, in New York. City officials reported that a man deliberately crashed his car into the building multiple times, an act under investigation as a hate crime. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
While hate crime incidents skyrocketed, the NYPD reported that shooting incidents, shooting victims and murders all hit record lows, marking what the NYPD described as “the safest January ever” in these categories.
The city saw 40 shooting incidents and 47 shooting victims, compared to the previous all-time lows of 50 and 56, set in 2025 and 2019, respectively, the data shows. Murders fell to 12, breaking the previous record of 22 set in 2018 and 2022.
Overall crime in the city dropped 6.7%, with declines in burglary, robbery, auto theft, grand larceny and felony assault, according to the data.
Former Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order before leaving office that tied the city’s definition of antisemitism to that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which labeled antisemitism as “hatred toward Jews.” The IHRA provides examples of what falls under its definition, including “[d]enying the Jewish people their right to self-determination,” and “[a]pplying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani scrapped an executive order adopting the IHRA antisemitism standard on his first day in office. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)
Mamdani, however, rescinded the adoption on Jan. 1, his first day serving as mayor.