New York Post  |  October 21, 2007

Hate Crimes vs. Jews On Rise In City

By Angela Montefinise

The number of bias crimes against Jews in New York City soared 15 percent this year, with some blaming the spike on last month's controversial visit from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Through Oct. 7, there were 94 reported hate crimes against Jews - making up almost half of the city's 209 total bias incidents, NYPD stats show.

Over the same period last year, 82 anti-Jewish crimes were reported.

Those stats don't even include two incidents after Oct. 7 - a swastika painted on a Columbia University wall and 22 swastikas scrawled in green chalk on the walls of Murry Bergtraum HS in Manhattan.

"We have certainly noticed a surge in the number of such incidents recently," said Joel Levy, New York director of the Anti-Defamation League.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that many of the incidents in the recent surge occurred immediately after the visit from Ahmadinejad. We had a hater, a Holocaust denier, a man who has said he wants to destroy the state of Israel and has built a nuclear weapon for that purpose, visit the city. I think that brought out some of the hate."

One of the ugliest anti-Semitic incidents happened only days after Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University. Swastikas and other hate graffiti were sprayed in 24 separate places in Brooklyn Heights, including two synagogues and several private homes, at the end of September.

There have been no arrests.

Original article here.