Less than two weeks before New York City voters head to the polls, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is warning that antisemitic incidents across the five boroughs have reached “deeply concerning” levels, heightening pressure on mayoral candidates to address a growing crisis of hate crimes and public safety.

In a report released Wednesday, the ADL said hundreds of incidents of harassment, vandalism, and physical violence against Jews have already been documented in 2025 — continuing the record highs seen last year, when New York led the nation with 976 antisemitic cases, more than any other state.

“The scope of antisemitic activity in New York this year is deeply concerning,” said Scott Richman, the ADL’s New York and New Jersey regional director. “Antisemitism is no longer hiding — it’s out in the open, and it’s making Jews in New York feel unsafe in one of the world’s most significant centers of Jewish life.”

Preliminary 2025 data shows antisemitic activity spreading across all five boroughs, with Orthodox Jews disproportionately targeted. Though they represent about 20 percent of New York’s Jewish population, they accounted for more than half of all physical assaults last year. In one February weekend alone, three separate attacks occurred within 48 hours; in June, a Shabbat observer was beaten unconscious while his assailant shouted about Gaza.

Attacks on Jewish institutions remain high as well. In 2024, 157 incidents targeted synagogues and community centers, and this year’s numbers are on track to match or exceed that figure. Among the most chilling cases: a man who claimed to be “the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler” and another who allegedly plotted a “massacre” at a Brooklyn religious site (it wasn’t specified where).

The ADL’s Center on Extremism attributed much of the rise to escalating anti-Israel extremism. In 2022, just 5 percent of antisemitic incidents were related to Israel; by 2024, that figure had surged to 58 percent, a trend continuing this year.

Demonstrations across the city have featured chants such as “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground” and banners calling to “globalize the intifada.” On college campuses — particularly at Columbia University, which recorded 53 incidents last year, the highest in the nation — Jewish students have reported vandalism of prayer spaces and fliers urging classmates to “crush Zionism.”

With a crucial mayoral debate scheduled Wednesday night, the ADL is urging moderators to press candidates on concrete steps to confront the surge. “Right now, the Jewish community needs every elected official to stand up and speak out,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “We need leaders who will treat this as the crisis it is, not a political afterthought.”

Greenblatt warned that rhetoric isn’t enough: “What we are seeing in New York is simply shocking. The time for statements has passed — the Jewish community deserves action.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)