Stop playing politics with hate - New York Post

New Yorkers are famous for their intolerance of intolerance — but it’s wise not to take it too far. Or to let cynical pols make political hay of it.

“An atmosphere of hate has been fostered in recent months in America, and we have to stop it,” insists Mayor Bill de Blasio, referring to new NYPD hate-crime data.

Yes, there’s been an uptick in hate crimes reported in the city: 24 more since Jan. 1. But it’s no “atmosphere of hate,” not when the total is up to just 68 incidents (35 against Jews) in all five boroughs.

The worst of it was 15 assaults in that two-month period. Most of the rest was nothing more than vandalism: a Nazi symbol carved on a wall in a Brooklyn courtroom, offensive scribbling at Penn Station, swastikas on a church’s doors.

Remember, too, that these “crimes” are based on reports, which may be increasing even if actual incidents aren’t. (New Yorkers, nerves on edge in the Trump era, might be more likely to notice hateful graffiti.)

To be clear: We take seriously such abominations as the mass toppling of headstones at three Jewish cemeteries, as well as those bomb threats against Jewish community centers.

But it’s simply outrageous to paint this as a vast wave of hate. And profoundly cynical to try pinning this “atmosphere” on President Trump.

Abe Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League and no Trump backer, has it right: “What we’re seeing now is serious, but it is not a crisis,” he says, urging Democrats not to exploit anti-Semitism as “a political issue to attack Trump.”

Foxman understands that Jew-hatred is too serious an issue to use for political gain. If only New York’s pols got that, too.