CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN CALLS FOR INCREASED SECURITY MEASURES TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM IN HUDSON VALLEY AFTER HAMAS TERRORIST ATTACKS
Congressman Pat Ryan Calls for Increased Security Measures to Combat Antisemitism in Hudson Valley After Hamas Terrorist Attacks
Requests additional funding for security at places of worship, religious schools, and community centers, demands DHS and FBI increase coordination with local officials amidst rise in antisemitism
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in the wake of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attacks, Congressman Pat Ryan called for increased federal measures to combat antisemitism in the Hudson Valley. Ryan requested significant additional funding for security at places of worship, religious schools, and community centers. Ryan also demanded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) heighten their coordination with other federal agencies and local officials in response to the increased risk for antisemitic violence as well as provide a current threat assessment of the risk landscape.
“Hate has absolutely no place in the Hudson Valley,” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “Just as we fully support our critical partner Israel in the face of existential threats, we must also be ironclad in protecting our Jewish community and neighbors here at home. With antisemitic violence approaching record highs, I’m calling on all of Congress to meet this moment with the urgency it deserves.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Area Security Initiative (USAI) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) and State Homeland Security Grant Program provide crucial funding for nonprofits to invest in hardening and physical security enhancements as well as emergency preparedness planning, training and exercises, and strengthening collaboration between nonprofits, security personnel, and government officials and agencies. In previous years, the NSGP has not received adequate funding to meet demand. Last year, FEMA received 3,500 applications, but was only able to fulfill approximately 1,800 of those requests.
Congressman Ryan serves on the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism and joined with Task Force colleagues on a letter to the DHS and FBI to request increased support of NSGP funding, to increase their coordination with other federal agencies and local law enforcement and government officials, and to provide Congress with a report detailing the current threat assessment for antisemitic violence as well as their interagency coordination efforts, and response and prevention plans for incidents of antisemitic violence.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents increased 36% from 2021 to 2022. The ADL’s report also found that New York had the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the country at 580. In 2022, 3,697 antisemitic incidents were reported nationally - the highest number since the ADL began keeping track of the number in 1979.
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