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NYPD: Hate Crimes Against Muslims, Jews Up Due To Unrest Overseas

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Suspected hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim people are up following unrest overseas, according to the New York City police department.

Deputy Chief Michael Osgood said Wednesday there's especially been an increase since July 1, when reports about unrest in Gaza and the Islamic State group became front-page news.

NYPD: Hate Crimes Against Muslims, Jews Up Due To Unrest Overseas

There have been 89 suspected anti-Semitic attacks so far this year, up from 64. There have been 17 reported attacks against Muslims, up from seven last year. Fourteen of the attacks on Muslims occurred after July 1.

The incidents are not from any organized group, Osgood said. They are random and impulsive acts by "street thugs,'' he said.

Here's the breakdown, according to the NYPD:

- Hate crimes in general are up 17 percent over last year.

- Anti-Semitic hate crimes are up 39 percent.

- Anti-Muslim hate crimes are up 143 percent.

- The increase jumped after July 1 from eight crimes a month to about 18 crimes a month.

Osgood said they are seeing offenders caught in a grip of passion who would not have offended before.

People who would have not reported a hate crime before are also now more inclined to report, Osgood said.

Police Commissioner William Bratton said the authorities were watching very closely and aggressively. He said it was important to note that the crimes are not an organized effort to strike a particular religious group or race.

"It is individuals acts rather than an organized effort to go after the Jewish community or the Muslim community. We're seeing none of that on the part of any of the entities that we would watch for that kind of organized attack. These tend to be very spontaneous actions by individuals," he said Wednesday.

Many religious leaders expressed confidence in the NYPD.

"I feel safe," Larry Spiewak, chairman of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush, told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa.

"Basically the community feels that the NYPD is there for them," said Rabbi Uziel Admoni of Flatbush.

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