Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) met with Jewish leaders in Jacksonville on Thursday to discuss rising antisemitism and ways officials can support Jewish communities.
Prior to the meeting at Etz Chaim Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation, Scott toured the Torah Academy of Jacksonville and met with students.
“In 1789, George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island that ‘America gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,’” the senator stated. “That’s the America we must return to.”
The Republican lawmaker pointed to a nearly 900% national increase of antisemitic incidents over the last decade.
“Congregations have to consider the unthinkable and prepare for the worst,” he stated. “I hate that this is how communities have to live in America, but we have to tackle it with a clear conscience.”
“The only way out is to identify the issues and counter them,” he added.
