By Dan Murphy
In a study released in July, Americans Against Antisemitism (americansaa.org) found that of the 118 adults arrested for anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York City since 2018, only one has been convicted and sent to prison.
At the same time NYPD crime reports found a 76% increase in hate crime for the first three months of 2022, with attacks on Jews more than tripling, In 2021 there were 33 arrest related to attacks on Jews in NYC, compared to 44 arrests made so far in 2022.
Tabletmag.com highlighted the study in an Aug. 28 story https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/open-season-jews-new-york-city-hate-crimes
In that story, Israel Bitton, executive director of Americans Against Antisemitism and one of the co-authors of the report, said the study aimed “to answer a simple question: Are there consequences for anti-Jewish hate crimes?” The document gives a clear answer: “In the majority of trackable cases, prosecution has been effectively nonexistent.”
Part of the reason for the increase in anti-semitic attacks is as one victim told Tabletmag.com, “He wasn’t afraid of the cops—he literally joked to me, call 911 … he was so confident.” and NYPD officers told him “They said that even if we catch this guy he’ll be out in a few hours and that this happens every single day.”
In order for the crime to be classified as an anti-semitic hate crime, the attacker must say something anti-semetic to the victim.
Read the report below. https://issuu.com/americansaa/docs/prosecutions_or_lack_thereof_of_hate_crimes_in_new
Westchester Congressional candidate Mike Lawler highlighted the story and the report, and questioned the lack of prosecution in 117 anti-semitic crimes in NYC, saying this “demands an immediate investigation by the New York State Attorney General. It’s virtually impossible, in my view, that more than 99 percent of those arrested for anti-Semitism since 2018 were unable to be prosecuted, and that speaks to a far larger issue of anti-Semitism in a justice system controlled by the Democratic Party.
“New York State Attorney General Letitia James has a responsibility to look into this glaring disparity. We’re all supposed to be treated equally under the law, and what The Tablet has uncovered demands public attention and scrutiny,” said Lawler, running against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in NY-16 which includes northern Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties.
