NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announces effort to combat anti-Semitism
BROOKLYN (WABC) -- While Hanukkah is a joyous holiday, this year there are concerns in the Jewish community about a rise in anti-Semitism.
At an event in Brooklyn, volunteers were preparing food boxes for homebound Holocaust survivors this weekend.
And there was also talk of the recent spike in antisemitic hate crimes.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand visited the event and took time to address some of those concerns.
"We as elected leaders have to do everything we can to protect our communities and to make sure that the Jewish community is not targeted and not having to deal with a constant barrage of anti-Semitic attacks," she said.
The senator announced she is sending a letter calling for robust funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) in the upcoming spending bill.
The NSGP provides critical security resources to at-risk faith-based and nonprofit institutions located in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
And in June, Gillibrand and other lawmakers requested $1.5 million in funding for the U.S. State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
The funds would go toward improving the safety and security of at-risk Jewish communities, ensuring foreign public officials condemn antisemitic discourse, strengthening foreign judicial systems in their prosecution of antisemitic incidents, and promoting Holocaust education.
This comes amid a spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes across the city and the nation, and after the arrests of two men who allegedly made violent threats against a New York City synagogue last month.
Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the creation of a new Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to address the rising tide of antisemitic and other hate crimes in the state.
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