August 9, 2022
We, the undersigned member organizations of the New Mexico Jewish Community, are concerned and appalled by reports that four separate murders of Muslim men in Albuquerque – one in 2021 and three in the past two weeks – could be related, according to multiple media reports and law enforcement officials. It is abhorrent that anyone would be attacked simply because of who they are, and we are outraged that these victims may have been targeted because of their faith. The entire Jewish community expresses its deep support of and solidarity with the Muslim community of New Mexico. We thank members of law enforcement for investigating and taking the matter seriously, and we strongly encourage prosecutors to pursue hate crime charges if the evidence shows that the murders were committed because of the victims’ Muslim identity.
According to the FBI, religion-based hate crimes reached a historically high level in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available, with Jews and Muslims being the top two targets of religion-based hate crimes across the country. Only by working together can we address hate against any one group.
Bias-motivated incidents can be reported to ADL online at www.adl.org/report.
Sincerely,
Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region (ADL)
Albuquerque Chapter of Hadassah
Chavurat Hamidbar (Albuquerque)
Congregation Albert (Albuquerque)
Congregation Beit Tikva (Santa Fe)
Congregation Nahalat Shalom (Albuquerque)
HaMakom, The Place for Passionate and Progressive Judaism (Santa Fe)
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque
Jewish Community Council of Northern New Mexico
Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico (JCFNM)
Jewish Federation of New Mexico (JFNM)
Las Vegas Jewish Community, Inc. (Las Vegas, NM)
New Mexico Holocaust Museum and Gellert Center for Education
New Mexico Jewish Historical Society
Rabbinic and Cantorial Association of Albuquerque
Taos Jewish Center