New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the State of New York will increase staffing to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and allocate an additional $2.5 million to the New York State Police to combat ‘hate speech.’

Hochul’s administration will deploy “ten additional investigators in New York City, Albany, Buffalo and Rochester, ensuring the State Police has a presence in all JTTF investigative groups and areas.”

The Democrat governor blamed the Hamas-Israel conflict for a rise in hate crimes.

“It’s painful to me as the Governor of this great state, that has been known for its diversity, and how we celebrate different cultures, different religions, different viewpoints, it’s painful to see the cruelty with which New Yorkers are treating each other. Everywhere from college campuses, to our streets, to schools, to playgrounds; even as they’re entering their houses of worship,” Hochul said.

“If anyone thinks that they can get away with spreading hate and harming other New Yorkers and violating the law, you will be caught. You will be caught here in the State of New York because we are ramping up our resources to ensure that everyone can live freely… I want to get back to that time, that space, where New Yorkers can trust each other, be friends on a college campus again, be friends at a playground, in a workplace. Let’s get back to that commonality that we’ve always shared throughout our history as New Yorkers,” she continued.

Hochul said the state government is “focused on the data we’re collecting from surveillance efforts.”

If you say something considered ‘hate speech’ on social media, Hochul’s administration will try to contact you.

“What’s being said on social media platforms. And we have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people when we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms,” a transcript of Hochul’s Monday press conference read.

WATCH:

From the transcript of Hochul’s remarks:

Our media analysis, our social media analysis unit, has ramped up its monitoring of sites to catch incitement to violence; direct threats to others, and all this is in response to our desire, our strong commitment, to ensure that not only do New Yorkers be safe, but they also feel safe because personal security is about everything for them.

As I said, no one walking down the street or in a subway should feel they have to find, to hide, any indications of what their religious beliefs are. We expect to see people celebrating their lives, walking about freely, and that is no longer the case because people are living in fear. They have a right to do whatever they want here in the State of New York. And I’ve asked this group today, is there anything else we can and should be doing? We’re doing what we know how to do, but any other ideas. And we’ve decided that what we’ve done in activating our hotline to report hate and bias incidences of all kinds is now being utilized but there are more platforms and more places we can get that number out to. Because people are being subjected to horrible assaults and vile language, and they go back home not sure what to do with that knowledge that they’ve been violated. I want everyone to know this phone number, because I said this is not just an opportunity to say, “well, we took care of it. We have a hotline.” I said to the law enforcement, I want to make sure that every single complaint is run down and investigated. And if they’ve crossed the line from hate speech into a hate crime, that there will be prosecutions. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life and I’m hearing that from so many others, particularly in the Jewish community.

In the United States of America and the State of New York, there is no such thing as ‘hate speech.’

Nevertheless, Hochul wants to punish ‘thought crimes’ if you utter an incorrect statement.

NY 1 reports:

The governor made the announcement following an “emergency meeting” with religious leaders and law enforcement officials.

The NYPD last week said New York City saw a spike in hate crimes following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, fueled by a rise in anti-Jewish incidents.

Sixty-nine of the 101 hate crimes the NYPD recorded in October were anti-Jewish incidents, up from 22 out of the 45 hate crimes it recorded in October 2022.

The department also logged eight anti-Muslim incidents — up from zero last October — and seven incidents it classified as “anti-ethnic” incidents — up from three last October — including at least four anti-Palestinian incidents.

Hochul on Monday said the spike coincided with “the day that Hamas attacked Israel” on Oct. 7.

“The rise in hate crimes began instantaneously,” the governor said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life.”

Seven of the 10 new investigators will be assigned to New York City, New York State Police Lt. Colonel Andrew Crowe said at the news conference.

“So we will be assigning extra investigations to NYC, Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany to work in Partnership with those RA’s throughout the state,” he said. “NYC will recieve a higher number of those GTTF investigators just because of the number of cases that will happen down here.”

According to Hochul’s office, the other three state police will be deployed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Albany and Rochester.

Watch the full press conference:

 

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