New York Governor Hochul Announces New Hate and Bias Prevention Unit Amid Antisemitism Surge

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced this week the creation of a new Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to address the rising number of antisemitic and other hate crimes in her state.

“New York State will use every tool at its disposal to eliminate hate and bias from our communities,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “We will not let the rise in hate incidents that we see happening online, across the country and across the world, take root here at home.”

The unit’s mandate includes “leading public education and outreach efforts, serving as an early warning detection system in local communities, and quickly mobilizing to support areas and communities in which a bias incident has occurred,” according to the governor’s office.

At a meeting with local Jewish leaders at Lincoln Square Synagogue on Monday, Governor Hochul vowed, “I will be there with you every step of the way to protect, unite, call out, and ultimately eradicate antisemitism in our lifetime.”

Speaking at the same event, New York City Mayor Eric Adams — who recently attended the 2022 Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Athens, Greece — said, “We have to look at the historical relationships between communities in general, but specifically the Black-Jewish relationship. So many of those who were the architects of those relationships and builders have transitioned or departed.”

Antisemitism is not a Jewish issue — it’s a human issue. If we don’t meet that threat head on, we’ll fail not just our Jewish brothers and sisters, but our entire society. Today, I stood with the @OrthodoxUnion to say to the forces of hate and division: Not here. Not in our city. pic.twitter.com/LvWxvEWIXl

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) December 12, 2022

Other participants included U.S. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Like all of you, I feel the same fear, the same dread, the same alarm, that past generations of Jews have felt when antisemitism rears its ugly head,” Senator Schumer said.

Today, I joined the Orthodox Union and hundreds of Jewish community leaders as we fight antisemitism

We must commit to fighting antisemitism with clarity and conviction, in honor of our ancestors, in honor of the survivors and victims of violence, in honor of future generations pic.twitter.com/ZzhDS0KC4E

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 13, 2022

Secretary Mayorkas said the Department of Homeland Security was “proud to partner with communities of all faiths to combat targeted violence borne of hate.”

Thank you to the @OrthodoxUnion for convening a conversation and increasing focus of the rising scourge of antisemitism in our country and around the world.@DHSgov is proud to partner with communities of all faiths to combat targeted violence borne of hate. pic.twitter.com/oe2VSbKtpF

— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) December 13, 2022