Violent anti-Semitic crimes are on the rise in the US

An attacker stabbed five people at a rabbi’s home late on Saturday while they were celebrating Hanukkah in the town of Monsey, to the north of New York City.

All of the victims required hospitalisation with two in critical condition after the attack in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood.

Police officials said they were stepping up patrols in Jewish neighbourhoods amidst an upturn in crimes targeting Jewish people.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said: “The spirit we bring today is one of resolve and relentlessness. We will keep adding as many measures as it takes to end this crisis.”

The rise in anti-Semitic violence comes amid a wider increase in hate crimes in the US. In New York alone, the number of anti-semitic attacks has increased 21 percent in the past year. 

New Jersey

Just over a fortnight ago, in the neighbouring state of New Jersey, four people including a police officer were killed, while the two suspects also died in a subsequent gunfight near a kosher market.

The battle began right after “high-powered rifle fire” according to the city police department. According to the investigators, the attackers were motivated by anti-Jewish hate but acted on their own.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop also said surveillance video of the attackers made it clear they targeted the kosher market, and he pronounced the bloodshed a hate crime against Jews.

San Diego

Earlier in April, an attacker killed a woman when he opened fire on worshippers at a synagogue packed with Jews marking the Passover. Three others were also wounded.

Before launching the attack, the killer posted an anti-Semitic screed on social media, in which he said that he had drawn inspiration from the Christchurch massacre just a month earlier. 51 Muslims were killed in that attack on two New Zealand mosques by a White supremacist terrorist.

Pittsburgh

Just over a year ago in October 2018, a gunman yelling “all Jews must die” stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue killing 11 and wounding six people, including four police officers before he was wounded and arrested.

The alleged killer, Robert Bowers, an avowed anti-Semite, appeared defiant and determined in court. He pleaded not guilty in federal court.