Federal Security Budget Increased for Places of Worship After Anti-Semitic Attacks

Miguel Moreno
By Miguel Moreno
January 3, 2020US News
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NEW YORK—Democratic lawmakers urged places of worship and other non-profits on Jan. 2 to access the now-increased federal non-profit security budget.

Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) and others announced that the budget was increased to $90 million: a more than 30 percent increase from last year. The press conference was prompted by a recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks in New York.

“Places of worship have been repeatedly been targets in mass shootings and terrorist attacks throughout the nation,” said Rose at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. “This is a reality that we refuse to accept.”

synagogue
A view of the Rodef Shalom Congregation where the funeral for Tree of Life Congregation mass shooting victims Cecil Rosenthal and David Rosenthal who are brothers was held in Pittsburgh, Penn., on Oct. 30, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

The security fund is accessed by non-profits to purchase surveillance systems, security personal, and other services or products meant to secure a location. But security is one aspect. Others say this isn’t solving the heart of the matter.

Historical Tensions

A day after five Hasidic Jews were stabbed on Hanukkah in Orange County on Dec. 28, the mayor mentioned the Crown Heights Riots of 1991 in Brooklyn when referring to division and coming together. In the riots, Hasidic Jews were the targets of anti-Semitic slurs and attacked by black marchers after a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a black child.

Most, if not all of the recent trending attacks on Jews appear to have been done by blacks. Some members of the Jewish community say the elephant in the room isn’t being addressed.

Jewish advocate and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, Dov Hikind, said in a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, “We know that if Hasidim were going around attacking people from any other minority group, we would be meeting not only to issue condemnations, but to get to the source, the cause of what’s behind such attacks.” He suggested the mayor join a Black-Jewish Leadership Meeting to find a solution to the problem, rather than “band-aiding the symptoms.”

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who represents largely Jewish and black districts, said he has the best of both worlds in his district, adding that raw, constructive dialogue is needed.

“We’ve been through traumatic events before,” said Jeffries in an interview with NTD News at the museum. “And we came together as a community. We’re gonna make sure we come together as a community again.”

Others have raised concerns about this year’s bail reform, which they say could lead to more hate crimes. The law does not give judges in New York State the ability to hold the defendant in jail if he or she poses a danger to the public. Defendants who’ve been charged with certain misdemeanors and non-violent felonies must be released without cash bail, including hate crime burglary in the second degree.

This means that someone can be charged with a hate crime burglary and be released without cash bail, multiple times. NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea has said he believes the law needs to be tweaked so judges have the discretion to hold defendants in jail if they pose a safety risk to society.

Correction: A previous version of this story had an error on the outcome of New York’s bail reform. Before bail reform, New York judges could not base their release decisions on whether the defendant posed a danger to the public.

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