New York will release an additional $45 million for security at religious institutions amid the uptick in anti-Semitic incidents, announced Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday at a rally featuring thousands of marchers.
“What has happened in Brooklyn, what has happened in Monsey, N.Y., was an attack on every New Yorker,” said Cuomo, referring to the slashing and injuring of five celebrants at a Hanukkah candle-lighting party on Dec. 28 at a home and prayer hall known as Rabbi Rottenberg’s Shul. “And every New Yorker has felt the pain.”
The $45 million in grant funding is being made available on a statewide basis and will be administered by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
Some $25 million will be available through the Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes Program for nonpublic nonprofit schools, nonprofit day-care centers, nonprofit community centers, nonprofit cultural museums and nonprofit residential camps; and $20 million will go towards the Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes Program with Local Matching Funds for nonpublic nonprofit schools and nonprofit day camps.
Eligible recipients will each get $50,000 for cameras, security training, door-hardening and other security enhancements.
“We thank Governor Cuomo for releasing these crucial funds, which are necessary to protect our institutions as anti-Semitic attacks continue to rise in New York state,” said OU executive vice president Allen Fagin. “By doing so, he continues to make New York the national leader in security funding for at-risk institutions.”
FBI hate-crime statistics show that incidents in at religious institutions like synagogues, churches, mosques and temples increased 34.8 percent between 2014 and 2018, the last year for which FBI data is available. The Anti-Defamation League’s 2018 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents in New York, released earlier this year, showed a 55 percent increase in anti-Semitic assaults in 2018, all of which occurred in New York City.
More than 160 anti-Semitic incidents in New York City were reported in the first nine months of 2019.
