NYPD fields reports of hate crimes in Arabic, Yiddish but not Hebrew

It is possible to report hate crimes to the New York City Police Department in Arabic, Bengali, simplified or traditional Chinese, Creole, French, Korean, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Urdu and Yiddish, but not Hebrew, according to the NYPD website.

Jews, including Israelis, have been the target of a disproportionate amount of hate crimes in the city, including a 182% increase in January, in the first month of Zohran Mamdani’s mayorship. The mayor has said he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in the Big Apple, and a spokeswoman to the mayor said that synagogues violate international law by hosting pro-Israel events.

JNS sought comment from the NYPD.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told JNS that Yehia Amin pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime on March 23 for making antisemitic and anti-Israel comments and attacking an Israeli man in 2023, shortly after Oct. 7.

The Maryland attorney general’s office allows people to report hate crimes in Amharic, Spanish, French, Igbo, Korean, Somali, Tagalog and Twi. Users cannot set the language to Arabic, Hebrew or Yiddish. (JNS sought comment from the office.)