NY leaders respond to embassy killings, address antisemitism
Originally published in
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ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)—New York State leaders are reacting to the shooting that killed two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C.
Governor Kathy Hochul said she is horrified by what happened. In a post on X, she stated, “In an abundance of caution, we are increasing security measures at houses of worship and other vulnerable sites across the state.”
Over the years, New York has made an effort to crack down on antisemitism.
The recently passed state budget made it a separate crime to wear a mask while assaulting someone.
“The new habit of wearing a mask to conceal your identity during the commission of a crime, whether it’s a serious crime or whether it’s simply a high level misdemeanor, should be separately punishable and that’s what we created,” said Senator Shelley Mayer. “It’s a second crime. They can be charged together and you can be separately punished for a conviction on the second crime.”
Mayer said the new state budget once again allocated $70 million dollars for security at religious schools. Money was also set aside for the Securing Communities against Hate Crimes Program, which gives grants to non-profit organizations.
However, lawmakers say more needs to be done.
Republican Assemblyman Matt Slater sponsors a bill to create a definition of antisemitism for the New York State Department of Education.
“To ensure that if there is any antisemitism in our schools, that our partners in the education department have the ability to crack down on it and identify it as antisemitism and hatred.
However, the bill was recently blocked in the Assembly Education Committee over first amendment concerns.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, since it started tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979, 2024 had highest number.
“For the year 2024, that number is close to 10,000 incidents,” said Scott Richman, ADL’s Regional Director.
Richman shared how people can report both hate crimes and incidents.
“If someone encounters an incident of antisemitism or they know of something that has happened to a friend or a family member they should simply go to www.adl.org and there is a button there to report an incident.”
