Hamilton’s Jewish community feels unsafe after seeing drastic rise in hate crimes

A Hamilton Jewish group is sounding the alarm regarding the rise in the amount of hate directed towards Jewish people.

The Hamilton Jewish Federation is disturbed by the hate crime statistics released last week by Hamilton police, which shows an increase in incidents targeting Jewish people.

Despite making up just half a per cent of Hamilton’s population, 80 per cent of all religious-motivated hate crimes in 2024 targeted Jewish people.

Of the 66 reported incidents of religious discrimination in Hamilton in 2024, 53 of those targeted Jewish people.

From vandalism, to harassment, threats and bias, one of the community’s biggest advocacy groups says the Jewish community is feeling targeted and unsafe.

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“There’s some cases where Jewish kids are afraid to go to school with the Star of David, or any Jewish symbol, because they are afraid to be identified,” said Gustavo Rymberg, with the Hamilton Jewish Federation. “Instead of using a Star of David, they start to use a cross to hide their identity.”

Rymberg said there has been a stark rise in incidents against his community ever since Oct. 7, and in its wake the need for heightened security measures has only increased.

“Keep in mind, every time we have a special service, not only in our building, but all synagogues, schools and Jewish organizations, we have to pay for extra security,” said Rymberg.

The need for added protection has resulted in organizations like Rymberg’s to hire full-time security details.

“We recognize that Hamilton police can’t be at everything – they don’t have the resources to provide the level of presence that the community needs in order to feel safe,” said Glenn Manella with the Secure Community Network. “So there will always be a need for us to spend money on private security and paid duty officers.”

Rymberg said as the need for additional security grows, so too does the financial burden on the community.

“It’s very expensive for the Jewish community to take care of all the extra money we have to pay in protecting ourselves,” said Rymberg.

According to the Hamilton police website, the current rate to book a paid duty officer in the city starts at $82 an hour, with a three hour minimum.

In some cases, those rates can go as high as $106 an hour.

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