There were 252 anti-Semitic hate crime incidents in 2018, the second-highest total in a decade, according to new numbers released by the Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The updated statistics cover 2017 and 2018; the previous update covered through 2016.

The numbers come amid a rash of high-profile cases aimed at the Jewish community in New York and the metropolitan region, including the stabbing of five people in Monsey during a Hanukkah celebration.

Overall hate crime incidents in New York dropped in the last two years reversing a trend of the recent decade.

Nevertheless, crimes motivated anti-Jewish bias were on the rise in the last two years.

A report released by DCJS on the 2017 cases found a 36 percent increase in anti-black hate crimes incidents.

Meanwhile, the most common motivation for the 2017 incidents was due to anti-religious and predominantly anti-Jewish bias. The 232 anti-Semitic hate crime cases accounted for 42.8 percent of all incidents in 2017. In both 2017 and 2018, more than half of those anti-Semitic cases targeted property.

The numbers defy a broader downward trend of hate crime incidents over the last several years in New York.

In 2016, there were 598 hate crime incidents statewide as tabulated by the state.

The following year, 560 hate crime incidents were reported. The number dropped again in 2018 to 525 incidents.

There was an increase between 2017 and 2018 of hate crime incidents in New York City, rising from 323 reported cases to 352 in 2018. But that is still a drop the 369 reported cases in 2016.

Outside of New York City, hate crime incidents fell to a five-year low, to 146 cases in 2018.