https://www.city-journal.org/article/jewish-anti-semitism-crime
Amid open support for terrorist groups on campuses and city streets, violence against Jews has risen once again. The latest piece of evidence is the New York Police Department’s 2024 hate crime data, which show a decline in prejudice-driven crimes overall but a seven-percentage-point increase in anti-Jewish crimes compared with 2023. While Anti-Jewish hate crimes had been a plurality in past years, in 2024 they were a majority, accounting for 345 of 641 total hate crimes. It’s no wonder that Jewish life in America is migrating away from the five boroughs and toward the friendlier climes of South Florida.
While it’s a tragedy that Jews are bearing the brunt of hate-motivated violence, anti-Semitism is rarely, if ever, about the relationship between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors. Anti-Jewish violence is, fundamentally, an indication of a sick civilization. Activist harassment against Jews is incidental to widespread contempt for the West, the promises of which the Jews—economically mobile, academically high-achieving, and largely law-abiding—show are within reach. Street violence against Jews is an outgrowth of the sickness identified by Jewish sages two millennia ago: “Those who are kind to the cruel are destined to be cruel to the kind.”
The anti-Jewish crimes tend to consist of petty violence, such as assaults, harassment, thefts, and vandalism. They’re often perpetrated by individuals who know that Jews (especially easily identifiable Haredi Jews) are unlikely to defend themselves. Petty thieves make off with money taken from Jews they likely see as enriching themselves by exploiting hardworking people. More often, these acts are driven by inchoate resentment against a people who look funny, behave differently, do not act tough, and yet, on the whole, seem to succeed.