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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