WASHINGTON — Religious groups and nonprofits would get a $1.2 billion boost in funding to pay for security as anti-Jewish and other hate crimes surge, according to proposed legislation announced Monday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Schumer told The Post that bigotry is at a “boiling point” after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas murdered more than 1,400 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, prompting deadly retaliatory strikes by Israel on Gaza.
“The cascade of intolerance has reached a boiling point. So we need a stronger federal response,” the New York Democrat said in an interview — added that scenes from a DC rally Saturday demanding a cease-fire between both sides were “very troubling” as demonstrators painted the White House’s gates red and climbed the fence.
“The thing that religious leaders, particularly our Jewish religious leaders, have clamored for is more money for the Nonprofit Security Grant [Program],” he said. “It’s been very successful, but the money has more or less run out.”
Congress approved $305 billion for the program in the most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. The program, created in 2017, allows institutions to buy security equipment and to hire contracted security guards with the money, but they cannot hire personnel directly because of the constitutional separation of church and state.
“There was $679 million worth of grants that people applied [for], but only $305 million was in bill,” Schumer said. “So we’re trying to raise it dramatically because of the great need since the 7th of October.
“Fewer than half the people who are entitled [to the funds] got it last time, and now after Oct. 7, with over a 300% rise in antisemitic incidents, money is needed more than ever,” he said.
The program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and has a current maximum award of $150,000 per year.
Schumer’s plan calls for $1.22 billion in new spending, including $1 billion not tied to a specific fiscal year, $200 million in new fiscal 2024 funding for the program and an additional $20 million to boost the program’s administrative staff.
“It can be money for cameras or with fences or doors, harder doors, different windows. It can’t be for personnel directly, but they can hire security guard services as well,” Schumer said.
“Everyone can apply. Muslims are the second most frequent target, and they would be able to apply, too,” noted Schumer, who is the country’s highest-ranking Jewish official.
Jews make up about 2% of the US population but nearly 10% of reported hate crimes in the most recent annual FBI data, which showed 1,124 reported anti-Jewish crimes in 2022, up 36% from the 824 such incidents in 2021.
Preliminary data suggest hate crimes targeting Jews may have soared nearly 400% since the latest Mideast violence began.
In the 17-day period after Hamas’ attack on Israel, anti-Jewish crimes reportedly soared, with 312 from Oct. 7 to 23, 2023, and 190 directly linked to the conflict — up from 64 alleged hate crimes in the same period one year prior, according to the Anti-Defamation League.