Amid a decline in antisemitic hate crimes across the city, Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Wednesday said she plans to boost the police presence at houses of worship during the Jewish High Holy Days.
The NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau and Counterterrorism Bureau are monitoring threats and will be working with Jewish organizations over the next few weeks during the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the department stated. More NYPD officers would be deployed to synagogues, schools and other Jewish sites across the city.
“Over the next several weeks, there will be an increased police presence around synagogues and other sensitive locations,” Tisch said. You will see additional foot posts in our neighborhoods and around our campuses and dedicated houses of worship autos deployed citywide.”
Tisch also boasted that antisemitic hate crimes across the city were down 16% after an 80% surge in hate crime attacks against Jewish New Yorkers by the end of 2023, following the Oct. 7 pre-dawn surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that killed at least 250 Israelis and wounded 1,500 others, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“So far in 2025, antisemitic hate crimes are down 16% citywide and, I assure you, that is progress that we are absolutely determined to build on. And as we enter the high holidays, that work only intensifies,” Tisch said.
“No one should ever be afraid to worship freely and openly. No one should ever feel like a target,” she added.
Tisch highlighted acts of violence toward the Jewish community throughout New York City — and country — referencing a June 2025 incident in which 45-year-old Mohammed Sabry Soliman attacked a group of people in Boulder, Colo., as they called for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza with a “makeshift flamethrower.”
She also spoke of the a May 2025 incident in which Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old Chicago resident, gunned down two Israeli Embassy staffers outside Washington, D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum. Yaron Lischinsky had plans to propose to his girlfriend, 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim, when they were both fatally shot, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
“A Colorado man firebombed a peaceful demonstration calling for the release of Israeli hostages, killing one person and injuring about a dozen more including a Holocaust survivor,” Tisch said. “While the war in the Middle East is thousands of miles away, its hate and violence ricocheted across the globe. The attacks in D.C. and Colorado were not isolated, they were the latest in a growing pattern of rhetoric shifting from outrage to incitement, from slogans to direct calls for violence.”
Tisch also highlighted that transit robbery crimes were at their lowest levels in recorded history, and that burglaries hit a record low across the city in August.
“This past July and August were the safest July and August ever in our subways outside of the pandemic years,” Tisch said.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner promised: “For the next two weeks, just like the other 50 weeks in the year, we are going to be out there — not just my bureau — across the department working with our partners, standing by your sides, keeping all of us safe.”
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