Antisemitism Working Group: 2023-2024 Report

In the months before the horrific October 7th terrorist attacks in Gaza, the Senate Republican Antisemitism Working Group convened to address the alarming trend of Jewish hate crimes growing in New York State. Our goal was straightforward: to expose and examine the rise in anti-Jewish sentiment and hate crimes in our state, a state that was traditionally recognized as a beacon of tolerance. What we knew at that time was already unsettling. In 2022 alone, New York City saw 263 anti-semitic attacks, more than double the number of previous years and a figure that dramatically underscored what was a nationwide problem. Worse still, the trend was not raising eyebrows and few elected officials were speaking out.

New York State has the largest Jewish population in the United States and we have seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic hate crimes across the state. In an effort to address this, the New York State Senate Republican Conference announced the creation of an antisemitism working group in February, 2023. Senator Jack Martins was appointed to serve as the Chair of the working group, and Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, Senator Joseph Griffo, Senator Peter Oberacker, and Senator Bill Weber were named as members.

The antisemitism working group held multiple meetings across the state with stakeholders, and convened two roundtable hearings, the first in Rockland County on Tuesday, September 19th and the second in Nassau County on Tuesday, September 26th.