On the first night of Hanukkah, New York City police are increasing security measures around synagogues and menorah lightings after more than a dozen people were killed at an event in Australia, officials said.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Sunday press conference that there are no credible threats to events in the five boroughs. Still, the NYPD is deploying additional officers and resources out of what she called “an abundance of caution,” she said.
“You will see an enhanced uniform presence, specialized patrols, heavy weapons teams, community affairs officers, counter-terrorism resources, and bomb squad deployments where appropriate,” Tisch said. ”We are marshaling all available resources to ensure the safety of New Yorkers.”
The NYPD, Tisch said, has been in contact with Australian law enforcement and its own NYPD liaison officer stationed in Sydney, where Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach took place.
As of Sunday afternoon, at least 38 people were reported injured and 15 dead. Among those killed was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a leader in the Chabad movement with ties to Crown Heights in Brooklyn, according to officials.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city stands with Jewish New Yorkers as they begin the holiday.
“They deserve to feel safe in the displays of their pride,” Adams said on Sunday.
He added, “We will celebrate the first night of the miracle of Hanukkah, no matter the tragedies we have experienced as a city, as a country and as a globe in the last 24 hours.”
Mayor Eric Adams condemned antisemitism during Sunday’s press conference and described the Sydney attack as an example of globalized extremism. He linked the shooting to rhetoric around “globalize the intifada,” a phrase that has drawn criticism in recent months.
“That attack in Sydney is exactly what it means to ‘globalize the intifada,’” Adams said.
The phrase, often used at pro-Palestinian rallies, has been controversial for its association with violence. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has previously used the slogan, but distanced himself from it during his mayoral campaign, saying he does not plan to use it again and will discourage others from doing so. He has said he understands how the phrase can be alarming to Jewish New Yorkers and clarified that he associates it with anticolonial resistance, not violence.
The mayor-elect released a statement on Sunday calling the attack a “vile act of antisemitic terror.”
“What happened at Bondi is what many Jewish people fear will happen in their communities too,” Mamdani said on social media.
He continued, “When I am Mayor, I will work every day to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe—on our streets, our subways, at shul, in every moment of every day. Let this be a purpose shared by every New Yorker, and let us banish this horrific violence to the past.”
Two of the world’s largest menorahs will be lit on Sunday — one at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, at 4 p.m. and another in Manhattan’s Grand Army Plaza at 5:30 p.m.
The Westchester County Police Department said it will also monitor all holiday-related activities and direct police resources to houses of worship.
