Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

State funds $1.5 million of Florida Holocaust Museum’s $7.5 million request

It will go towards increasing security at the museum in St. Petersburg.

Florida Holocaust Museum
Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. Credit: Wilkimedia Commons.

Having requested $7.5 million to improve security, among other things, the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg received $1.5 million in funding from the state senate for 2023-24. In 2022, it received $5 million for the same reasons.

The money is for “facility improvements, remediation and related costs to expand, preserve and secure the museum’s environment, and resources for students, teachers, scholars, descendants and visitors.”

Per the museum’s appropriations request, it has also received $500,000 from the state and $350,000 each from the county, Pinellas, and the city, St. Petersburg, where the museum is located, in addition to $100,000 from private donors.

There has reportedly been a surge in antisemitism in the state.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, on a trip to Jerusalem last week, signed a bill that increases penalties for religious and ethnic harassment.

JNS has learned that the victims told detectives that they were considering converting and consider themselves part of the Jewish community.
When FBI agents visited Dale Ankney to question him about his social media activity, he allegedly threatened to “cap” them, according to court filings.
Forrest Kendall Pemberton allegedly scouted what he thought was an AIPAC office in South Florida and planned to return with concealed guns, prosecutors allege.
“The challenges facing American Jewry are also very profound,” Rabbi Menachem Genack told JNS. “The risk of rapid assimilation. The level of antisemitism that we’re seeing. The security challenges facing the State of Israel.”
“This is the same president who moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, delivered the Abraham Accords peace agreements, tore up Obama’s disastrous JCPOA, ended the war in Gaza and brought all of the hostages home,” the group stated.
“All U.S. military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased,” U.S. Central Command stated.