Israel’s war with Hamas has hardly remained confined to the Middle East. Since last October’s deadly attacks in southern Israel, Western cities have been flooded with street demonstrations. University campuses have turned into flashpoints for political protests. And Jewish communities worldwide have remained on edge amid an avalanche of Jew hatred.
Antisemitic incidents in France quadrupled in 2023 compared to the year before, according to the French interior ministry. Synagogues and Jewish community centres have been targeted. In Poland, France, Germany and Canada, shuls were firebombed.
In the US, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a 140 per cent increase in antisemitism versus 2022. Jewish organisations and synagogues have faced bomb threats, vandalism and white supremacist graffiti there. Even before the October 7 massacre, Jewish Americans feared for their safety, with one in four reporting that their religious or cultural establishments had been vandalised, attacked or threatened in the past five years.
Since October 7, US synagogues have been more susceptible to attacks than ever before. That’s in part why the US Department of Homeland Security declared in August an unprecedented allocation of $454.5 million (£347 million) for a fund, now known as the Nonprofit Security Grant Programme, dedicated to buttressing security measures at religious organisations and houses of worship. That’s nearly $150 million more than the $305 million allocated in 2023 to better protect America’s religious establishments.
“The funds announced today will provide communities across the country with vital resources necessary to strengthen their security and guard against terrorism and other threats,” said US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who is of Cuban Jewish descent.
Mayorkas added that the impact of these grants, which will be made available to any religious group facing credible threats, “will be measured in lives saved and tragedies averted”.
The vast sum allocated this year by the federal government is a dire sign of the times, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the JC. “We are experiencing an unprecedented surge of antisemitism in the US which threatens both our institutions and our places of worship and, unfortunately, the demand for security resources currently far outstrips available resources,” he added.
“The federal grant programme remains critical to protecting the Jewish community, our institutions, and other at-risk groups. We continue to call on Congress to increase funding to ensure the Jewish community – and all vulnerable communities – are able to adequately protect themselves from growing threats.” Nate Neustadt, an 18-year-old international affairs student at George Washington University, told the JC how his local synagogue in California was always heavily guarded.
“At home, in San Diego, I prayed at Aish HaTorah, which operates out of the local Jewish day school. Even before October 7, there were always armed guards at the entrances to the school as a safety precaution.”
Since moving to college in Washington DC, Neustadt has been praying every Friday night at the campus Chabad. “I wish we had more security inside the Chabad House. There’s a security guard inside the Chabad building next to the door, but that’s it.”
In Indianapolis, Nadav Keisari, 23, has seen his synagogue given several “security enhancements”, paid for by the government. “The ‘upgrades’ include new reinforced windows, glass doors and cement planters in front of the entrances to block cars,” he said. “We even have a cop outside our synagogue on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and have had security and active shooter training.”
A debate has long persisted in some American Jewish communities over how to strike the right balance between fortifying synagogues to minimise external threats while also remaining welcoming to all visitors, a debate familiar to diaspora communities the world over.
Jonathan Harounoff is the author of the forthcoming book Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomenLifeFreedom Revolt
