WASHINGTON D.C. – As rates of antisemitic incidents rise in New Jersey and across the country, Senator Andy Kim echoed the fear of Jewish American communities and the dire need to defend and expand federal resources that help combat antisemitism and protect Jewish communities as they face persistent security threats.

The conversation happened in the context of the Trump administration’s assault on federal programs, including threatening to close FEMA that oversees the Nonprofit Security Grant Program which provides funding to secure synagogues as well as the administration gutting the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that investigates antisemitic incidents.

VIDEO OF FULL QUESTION LINE

“The threat that you said, it’s not just what happened during the Holocaust and World War II, but what we’ve seen since October 7^th. A little over an hour ago, I just got off again with Edan Alexander’s parents, talking to them directly about just the concern, the fear that they feel. I can tell you how impactful that is to the Jewish American community in my home state of New Jersey… It’s not theoretical. They feel it on a visceral, daily level. And then with Edan Alexander’s captivity still very much at the forefront of their minds,” said Senator Kim.

The hearing, held in the Senate Special Committee on Aging, was entitled ‘Never Again: Addressing the Rise of Antisemitism and Supporting Older Americans’, and featured David Schaecter, Holocaust Survivor and Founder of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach; Rabbi Mark Rosenberg, Senior Advisor and Chief Chaplain to Miami-Dad Sheriff; Ted Deutch, Former Congressman and CEO of the American Jewish Committee; and Rebecca Federman, Senior Director of the Community Security Initiative.

During the hearing, Senator Kim expressed his concern that the Trump administration’s proposed reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services puts the agency’s Administration for Community Living and their critically important services for seniors, including programs like the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program at-risk. As Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ subcommittee that oversees FEMA, Senator Kim also spoke about the need to protect the Nonprofit Security Grant Program but also take additional steps to provide more persistent support to synagogues and temples facing ongoing security threats and costs.

Senator Kim stated: “I’m doing everything I can to be able to protect [the Nonprofit Security Grant Program] as there are conversations about abolishing FEMA. I worry about the future of this…We want to preserve it, we want to increase the funds, but one thing I also hear is that from the synagogues, the temples that I talk to it’s not just one-off security they need…this is the top budget item for every single synagogue every single year.”

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