Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 4 August 2026

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes up 53.3% in NYC in July compared to last year, with Jews targeted in 70% of ‘confirmed’ hate crimes

According to newly released NYPD data, anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York City increased significantly in July 2026. The department recorded 33 confirmed hate crimes during the month, with 23 targeting Jewish victims, meaning Jews accounted for 69.6% of all confirmed hate crimes despite representing about 10% of the city’s population. That marks a 53.3% increase from 15 anti-Jewish hate crimes in July 2025. Muslims were the second most targeted group, with five confirmed incidents (15%), up from two during the same month last year. The NYPD also reported 50 total reported hate crimes in July, with 29 (58%) targeting Jews and six (12%) targeting Muslims.

Year-to-date, the NYPD has recorded 360 confirmed hate crimes, a 9.4% increase from 329 during the same period in 2025. Of those incidents, 205 targeted Jews (56.9%), an 8.5% increase from last year, while 26 targeted Muslims, representing a 62.5% increase over the same period in 2025. The department explained that a reported incident becomes a “confirmed hate crime” only after the Hate Crime Task Force investigates it and determines it meets the legal definition under New York State law.

Analyst Comments: Confirmed hate crimes in New York City increased overall, with both Jewish and Muslim communities experiencing year-over-year increases in targeted incidents. While Jewish individuals continued to account for the largest share of confirmed hate crimes, the rise across multiple faith communities highlights that bias-motivated threats remain an ongoing concern for faith-based organizations. Houses of worship, schools, and community centers benefit from maintaining visible security measures, encouraging timely reporting of suspicious activity, and strengthening relationships with local law enforcement and community partners. Regular staff and volunteer awareness training, updated incident response procedure, and coordinated communication plans help organizations respond quickly if an incident occurs while also supporting community resilience after a targeted event.

FBI: Ongoing Threats of Swatting and Indicators for Community Members

The FBI and Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released an updated Public Service Announcement warning that swatting remains an ongoing threat and is increasingly targeting public locations rather than just individuals. According to the FBI, recent incidents have affected educational institutions, government buildings, religious institutions, public transportation centers, hospitals, and other public buildings as part of “a larger coordinated effort to simultaneously target multiple community members, multiple victims and locations across the United States.”

Swatting involves making false emergency reports such as bomb threats, active shooter incidents, or hostage situations to trigger a large law enforcement response. The FBI notes that these incidents can cause “fear, panic, disorder and disruption” through evacuations, lockdowns, event cancellations, the spread of misinformation, psychological impacts, and the diversion of emergency resources from legitimate incidents.

The FBI identified several indicators commonly associated with swatting calls. These include the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone numbers, calls originating from outside the United States, vague or inconsistent details, callers who cannot answer basic identifying questions, mispronunciation of local street or building names, and callers who remain unusually calm or appear to be reading from a script. Another common indicator is when only one call is received reporting a serious emergency, whereas legitimate emergencies often generate multiple reports from witnesses.

Analyst Comments: The FBI encourages organizations and community members to discuss swatting risks, review their online presence for publicly available personal information, participate in preparedness training, and cooperate with responding law enforcement if they become the target of a swatting incident.