New York City officials and the Anti-Defamation League are expressing concern over a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the Big Apple.
There were 53 incidents of anti-Semitic grafitti and similar types of vandalism from January through May of this year, according to ADL spokesperson Etzion Neuer.
The figure is a 29 percent increase over the 41 incidents seen during the same period in 2014.
“That’s a significant rise,” Neuer told Channel 7’s Eyewitness News on Friday.
Local residents agree. “I think this is a pattern that we saw in the 1930s and I think it is repeating itself,” a Brooklyn resident said.
Although there has been no real rise in the number of violent anti-Semitic crimes, there was a 14 percent spike in anti-Semitic incidents in 2014.
“We need to be aware of it,” a member of the Jewish community in Brooklyn’s Marine Park neighborhood told JewishPress.com. “It is not something to panic about, but we need to be aware.”
