NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch Vows to Combat Anti-Semitism, Condemns Campus Hate at ADL Summit

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch Vows to Combat Anti-Semitism, Condemns Campus Hate at ADL Summit

By: Fern Sidman

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch delivered a forceful commitment to combating anti-Semitism on Tuesday, declaring that the NYPD will take action “no matter where the threats originate.” Speaking at the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never Is Now Summit,” Tisch unequivocally denounced the surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city following the Hamas-led terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which ignited the ongoing Gaza war. As reported by The New York Post, the commissioner also condemned the wave of anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses, calling them “especially despicable.”

“As your police commissioner, I promise that the NYPD will continue to combat anti-Semitism no matter where the threats originate, and our hate crimes task force will remain on the front lines of this fight,” Tisch declared, as cited by The New York Post. She emphasized that New York City’s unparalleled diversity must be safeguarded, ensuring that every resident can “live and work and worship free from fear.”

Tisch, who has served as police commissioner since 2023 and is herself Jewish, expressed deep concern over the anti-Semitic imagery and rhetoric that have proliferated in New York’s streets and institutions. She highlighted that anti-Israel demonstrations in the city have often crossed the line into outright anti-Semitic harassment, which, in her words, “shook the foundations of what we thought being Jewish in New York City meant.”

According to the information provided in The New York Post report, the commissioner reserved some of her harshest criticism for anti-Israel protests on college campuses, describing them as particularly egregious. “Jewish students were harassed, intimidated, and threatened. Buildings were ransacked, and campus life was completely upended,” Tisch stated, noting that many demonstrators directed their hostility toward Jewish students and New Yorkers rather than Israel’s policies.

Columbia University has been one of the focal points of these protests. As The New York Post report indicated, demonstrators previously occupied a green space and even stormed a university building until police intervention was required. Just last week, anti-Israel protesters at Barnard College escalated tensions further by storming an academic building in Manhattan and assaulting a college employee.

Yesterday, dozens of virulently anti-Israel protesters escalated their confrontation with Barnard College administrators by seizing control of the school’s Milstein Center library, marking the second major occupation of a campus building in just one week. The masked demonstrators entered the library through an unmarked side entrance at approximately 1 p.m., according to videos posted online by a pro-Hamas group unaffiliated with Barnard or Columbia University. Their primary demand was the immediate reversal of the expulsions of three students who had participated in prior anti-Israel protests.

The protesters appeared to circulate photos of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and flyers bearing the image of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a gun with the text “sometimes history needs a flood,” according to posts by students on campus. (Israel killed Nasrallah and Sinwar. The “flood” refers to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel.)

While Tisch acknowledged that even the most “vile” rhetoric is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment, she made it clear that the NYPD draws a hard line at hate crimes. “Anyone who commits a hate crime will face justice,” she warned, as cited by The New York Post.

In addition to combating homegrown anti-Semitism, Tisch highlighted that law enforcement agencies remain vigilant against external threats. She referenced the recent arrest of a Canadian ISIS supporter by the Joint Terrorism Task Force for allegedly plotting to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Furthermore, she cited the case of a Utah man who was arrested last month for allegedly making terror threats against a New York synagogue, according to The New York Post report.

The latest NYPD data speaks volumes about the ongoing crisis: Hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers skyrocketed in the months following the Hamas attacks and have continued to rise in 2024. As of March 2, 2025, there have already been 47 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in the city—four more than during the same period last year, according to the information in The New York Post report.

Tisch’s unwavering stance signals that the NYPD will continue ramping up its efforts to confront anti-Semitic violence and harassment.