A delegation from Jewish Peninsula joined hundreds of Jewish leaders in the nation’s capital on June 25 and 26 to ask Congress and the Trump administration to act to protect Jewish Americans nationwide from violence.
The nearly 400 Jewish leaders from more than 100 major Jewish organizations across the country who participated in emergency meetings had one message: “Jewish security cannot wait.”
The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations led the United for Security Emergency Leadership Mission in response to the recent attacks targeting Jewish events in Washington, D.C., and Boulder, Colorado.
“We are facing an unprecedented situation in American Jewish history where every Jewish institution and event is a potential target for antisemitic violence,” Eric Fingerhut, JFNA’s CEO and president, said in a press release.
He added that the safety and security of the Jewish community must be elected officials’ top priority going forward.
“Whatever other issues the Jewish community may care about, whatever differing opinions we may hold on some of those issues, we are united for security,” Fingerhut said.
In more than 200 meetings on Capitol Hill, advocates pushed for a six-point security policy plan for the Jewish community:
- Increase the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion annually
- Provide federal support for security personnel costs for synagogues and Jewish institutions
- Expand FBI resources to fight the “domestic and global war on terror”
- Fund local law enforcement to protect Jewish institutions
- Regulate hate speech and “incitement to violence” on social media
- Enforce and prosecute existing hate crime legislation
The Jewish Peninsula delegation met with their representatives, sharing personal experiences about their local Jewish communities’ security concerns with Senator Tim Kaine, Senator Mark Warner, Congressman Bobby Scott and Congressman Rob Wittman.
