Saturday's hostage situation at the Beth Israel synagogue is the latest such incident. According to the Anti-Defamation League, there were at least ten reported anti Semitic crimes reported in Texas from October to December. On Halloween, an Austin synagogue was set on fire.
Joel Schwitzer is the director of the American Jewish Committee in Dallas. He says the uptick is part of the reason the federal government created a non-profit security grant, a request he says made even more urgent after what took place in Colleyville on Saturday. "One of the things that AJC has been advocating for, especially in the wake of this is that the amount of dollars available through those grants needs to be increased significantly."
The national grant stands at $180 million dollars a year. He would like to see congress raise the amount to $360 million.
Schwitzer says beefed up security at synagogues, Jewish Community Centers and summer camps is a given. "25 or 30 years ago, it may have looked like 'oh, it's the high holidays, let's have someone in a police car sitting in the parking lot.' But that has evolved over the years to the point where we recognize that anytime that we're gathering for services that unfortunately it is necessary."
He says this isn't the new normal for the Jewish community, it's the status quo.
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