The largest number of hate crimes against any group in New York City are hate crimes against Jews. Muslims are also particularly anxious about hate crimes against themselves because of the current wars in the Middle East.
Jews are calling the vicious terrorist attack on Israel, the nation’s 911. Muslim anger is growing over Israel’s retaliation in Gaza. The anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attacks threaten to spiral out of control. What role can your congregation play in all of this?
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 2,717 incidents in the United States in 2021, the highest number since it began collecting this data in 1979. The organization notes that the war with Hamas has been accompanied by a huge peak in anti-Semitic incidents. ADL recorded a total of 312 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7-23, 2023, 190 of which were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza. By comparison, during the same period in 2022, ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents.
Locally, every week brings a new outrageous anti-Semitic attack.
At Hillcrest High School in Queens, hundreds of students attacked a Jewish teacher
At Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens, there was a ghastly attack on a Jewish health teacher. A Journey reporter had walked these very halls as a guest lecturer on statistics. It was a very heavily guarded school, but evidently, anti-Semitism overcame the security.
A picture on social media showed the teacher holding a sign that read “I Stand With Israel” at a rally two days after Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. Calls started to come into the school threatening the teacher. Students told Chalkbeat New York that their social media was inundated with graphic images of violence in the Middle East.
On November 20th, hundreds of students gathered to lambast the Jewish teacher. Some claim that maybe thirty percent of the school is made up of Muslims.
The students careened in the halls, tearing a water fountain off the wall, and shouting against the teacher. The woman had retreated into an administrative office (where some reports say that she was hidden away in a closet) while security guards tried to restrain the students. But the police lost control of the hallways. Three school safety agents were injured, according to the NYPD. Finally, the police placed the school under lockdown.
The chancellor of the New York City schools said that some students (the police identified only three for punishment) had been suspended, but Mayor Eric Adams called the incident a “vile show of anti-Semitism.” Several students admitted that the demonstration had gotten out of hand but claimed that they loved their Jewish teachers. About eighteen percent of Jews in New York City live in Queens.
Both Jews and Muslims fear attacks on themselves.
However, the warlike circumstances should incline every congregation of every faith to include both Jews and Muslims in their public concern. One Muslim organization has reported that they have recorded 774 hate crimes against Muslims in the United States since October 7.
A Call to Action
Journey is proposing that each religious congregation add to its website a statement with appropriate informative resources denouncing anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attitudes and acts.
We are encouraged that several leaders have already taken the lead in showing their compassion and identity with their immediate neighbors. Redeemer Presbyterian East Side and St. Paul and St. Andrew Methodist Church on the West Side have issued statements and taken action.
At many congregations, there are ample precedents for this type of action.
For example, one church website currently has several items about fighting racism, neighborhood advocacy, and classes on racial justice, homelessness, and migrants. It also directs people to counseling services that address racial trauma, cultural biases, and empowering one’s racial/ethnic group.
The church also provides resources on how to be committed to one’s neighbors, helping racial groups under stress, being merciful, and having a justice mindset against corporate sin, racism, and other injustices. It points out how the church has been complicit in some of the injustices.
There are many more such resources mentioned on the website (we estimate 200 such resources), but when we checked, there was not a single resource on neighborhood love for Jewish neighbors. Nor on standing up against anti-Semitism.
Future help
Journey will be publishing religious responses, social science analysis, stats, and other resources about anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attitudes and acts.
We would like to hear about what your congregation is doing so that we can pass along your wisdom.
Maybe, you don’t want to embroil your congregation into controversy. We are not advising you to take a stand in the Middle East war. We are asking you to protect your neighbors, regardless of which side they favor. That is the least that we can do as New Yorkers
