Anti-Israel protesters in Los Angeles, California, US, Oct. 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Daniel Cole

Jews have been the targets in more than 70 percent of religion-based hate crimes in California last year, underscoring an alarming level of antisemitic hostility and targeted violence recorded statewide, according to a new state report released on Wednesday.

California authorities published the 2025 Hate Crime annual report, documenting 289 antisemitic incidents out of 392 religion-based hate crimes recorded statewide last year, meaning anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for roughly 73.7 percent of all such cases.

“There is absolutely no place for hate in California,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said in a statement. “Transparent and accessible data is a critical part of understanding where we are and how we can end hate crimes in our communities.”

Even though reported hate crimes in California declined 3.4 percent — from 2,023 in 2024 to 1,955 in 2025 — incidents driven by racial or ethnic bias rose 6.2 percent, increasing from 1,011 to 1,074 over the same period.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes fell 6.8 percent from 310 in 2024, yet they still made up nearly 15 percent of all hate crimes in the state, despite Jews representing under 5 percent of California’s population.

Not only in California, Jewish communities across the United States have faced a sharp rise in antisemitic hostility and targeted violence following the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, fueling heightened security concerns and widespread fears nationwide.

In New York City, antisemitic incidents surged 71 percent in May compared with the same month last year, according to newly released police data, reflecting a continued rise even as overall crime trends declined.

According to data published by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), 41 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes struck Jewish residents in May, up from 24 a year earlier.

Despite Jewish New Yorkers making up roughly 10 percent of the city’s population, more than half — 60 percent — of all confirmed hate crimes in May were antisemitic, underscoring a continued pattern of targeted bias.

As for reported (or unconfirmed) hate crimes, the data showed Jews were targeted 60 times during that same month, making up a staggering 61 percent of the total number of such incidents.

So far in 2026, there have been 152 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes in New York City, up six percent from the first five months of last year.

By comparison, there have been 17 confirmed hate crimes against Muslims, 18 against Black people, and nine against Asians over the same period.

In one of the latest antisemitic incidents, the city — home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel — saw a series of vandalism cases last month, including swastikas discovered in Queens parks and on Jewish-owned properties.

Meanwhile, masses of anti-Israel demonstrators marched through the heavily Jewish Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and protested outside Young Israel of Midwood synagogue over its involvement in selling land they said was “stolen” for being located in the West Bank.

Videos circulating online from the protest appeared to show a female demonstrator, wearing a surgical mask and a red keffiyeh scarf around her shoulders, assaulting a Jewish girl by grabbing her hair from behind as she attempted to move through the crowd to get home.

When a group of teenagers near the incident decried the assault, a swarm of hooded protesters confronted them, pushing and squaring shoulders in an apparent effort to dare a response and threaten more force.

During a similar demonstration days earlier at a Manhattan synagogue, activists held signs and chanted slogans that went beyond criticism of Israel, seemingly calling for the death and expulsion of Jews and, in some cases, support for US-designated terrorist groups.