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8 | JANUARY 30 • 2020
1942 - 2020
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
jn
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the ever-increasing threat to
our community.
There are several critical
measures that Congress can
and must enact as soon as pos-
sible to protect Jewish insti-
tutions as well as America’
s
churches, mosques and tem-
ples, which also endured vio-
lent attacks in recent months.
First, we must dramatically
increase the funding for the
Nonprofit Security Grant
Program administered by the
Department of Homeland
Security. Most synagogues and
churches in the U.S. do not
have the resources to install
adequate security measures
or hire security guards. Our
organization and a coalition
of faith community partners
worked with bipartisan lead-
ers to create the Nonprofit
Security Grant Program
(NSGP) more than a decade
ago.
We did so out of a sense of
concern and an abundance of
caution. We did not anticipate
the nightmare our community
is currently confronting.
The NSGP makes grants to
houses of worship and other
nonprofits deemed to be at
risk of attack. The funds are
used for things such as install-
ing hardened doors, shatter-
proof glass and surveillance
cameras, as well as for hiring
security guards. Congress
responded to the greater need
by increasing the funding level
to $90 million for FY 2020.
But even that higher level of
funding is insufficient to meet
the needs of vulnerable syn-
agogues and churches. That
is why we stood with Sen.
Chuck Schumer as he called to
quadruple the funding for the
NSGP to $360 million. This
is something that Congress
ought to enact right away and
not wait for the end of the
standard appropriations cycle
in September. The need is
emergent, and it is the funda-
mental obligation of the gov-
ernment to ensure the safety
and security of all its citizens.
Second, local police depart-
ments don’
t have the necessary
resources to increase their
presence and patrols in our
communities. The Department
of Justice provides millions of
dollars of federal assistance to
local police departments for
various purposes. Congress
should authorize some of
those grants specifically to
support the deployment of
police protection to houses of
worship.
Third, the FBI and other law
enforcement agencies need
stronger tools to enable them
to open investigations and
prosecute the perpetrators of
anti-Semitic and other hate
crimes.
Leaders of law enforcement
have told us that the lack of
a federal domestic terrorism
statute is a real impediment to
their work. They are unable
to open investigations into
individuals for lack of such a
statute. Bipartisan proposals
are pending in Congress and
should be considered at hear-
ings and voted on right away.
In his famous 1790 letter
to the Jewish community
of Newport, R.I., President
George Washington prayed:
“May, the Children of the
Stock of Abraham, who dwell
in this land, continue to merit
and enjoy the goodwill of the
other Inhabitants; while every-
one shall sit in safety under
his vine and fig tree, and there
shall be none to make him
afraid.”
Now, in the United States
of America, the Children of
Abraham are afraid in a way
we have never been before. We
are under threat of violence
as we walk down a city street
or enter our synagogues to
pray. All Americans should be
fearful of this crisis, too, for it
means our beloved country is
losing an essential element of
its founding identity — to be a
beacon of religious freedom to
the world.
Congress must act in the
first months of the new year to
protect the American Jewish
community and all com-
munities of faith to sustain
President Washington’
s prom-
ise to us all.
Allen I. Fagin is executive vice presi-
dent and
Nathan J. Diament is director
of public policy for the Orthodox
Union.
Anti-Semitism from page 5