Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday called the deadly shootings in a Jersey City kosher market an “act of terror” and warned of a growing “crisis of anti-Semitism.”
Although Jersey City officials haven’t described Tuesday’s “targeted” slaughter as terrorism, de Blasio said he believed it was “because it was premeditated, because it was violent.”
“It was an act of hate. It was an act of terror,” he said during a news conference at City Hall.
De Blasio also said that anti-Semitism was “coming out into the open.”
“We feel a lot of pain, but we have to understand why this is a moment of urgency,” de Blasio said.
“This confirms a sad truth. There is a crisis of anti-Semitism gripping this nation. There is a crisis of anti-Semitism in this city.”
Port Authority Police officers arrive at the scene following reports of gunfire.APHe added: “History tells us to take these warning signs seriously.”
Also during the news conference, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea vowed to “keep members of the Jewish community and all New Yorkers safe from any act of hate.”
“I will urge everyone, however, to keep going about your business as usual — without fear. That is how we defeat terror,” he said.
Shea said anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City were up 22 percent this year.
“You see a swastika being drawn, you see a brick being thrown through a window, you see a woman walking down the street with her kids and having her wig ripped off,” Shea said.
