STATE CAPITOL — The state Senate Republican Conference’s Antisemitism Working Group released its report on Wednesday, detailing a list of suggestions to combat antisemitism throughout the state.
The group held multiple roundtables downstate during the fall and in its report is urging the state Legislature to include five pieces of legislation to address the issue in its final state budget.
Speaking at the state Capitol on Wednesday while releasing the report, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt noted the working group was created before the breakout of war in Gaza and the following increase in antisemitic attacks in New York.
“I believe we have an obligation as elected New York legislators to speak out — not only on antisemitism, but to protect our Jewish citizens and to speak out for the Jewish nation, especially in light of what we've seen since Oct. 7,” Ortt said. “I don't think Senator Martens or the working group are going to pretend that those events did not impact the final report and some of the legislation that has come out, but I think this has probably never been more important.”
The bills would:
- Define antisemitism within the state human rights law; provides that antisemitism that incites, causes or results in any act of violence, or injury to a person, or the damage to or destruction of real or personal property, shall be deemed to constitute a hate crime
- Prohibit students from receiving Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) if engaging in antisemitic behavior
- Create the “Dismantling Student Antisemitism (DSA) Act,” which implements antisemitism awareness and prevention sensitivity training in colleges with threat of loss of funding
- Enacts the “New York State Antisemitism Vandalism Act,” which establishes the crime of vandalism of pro-Israel print and provides a class A misdemeanor for any individual who intentionally destroys, damages, removes any banner, poster, flyer or billboard which is located in a public space, where the intent or purpose of such banner, poster, flyer or billboard is to bring awareness for Israeli individuals who have been victims of a crime, or to positively support the country or citizens of Israel
The final bill is sponsored by state Sen. Peter Oberacker, a member of the task force, and would make it a charge of aggravated harassment to display Nazi symbols in a public location in a manner that is “likely to cause another person to feel harassed, annoyed, threatened or alarmed, or to incite violence.”
“Ever since the terrorist attack on Israel last October, there has been an uptick of hate crimes against Jewish Americans and that includes the display of Nazi symbols. It is done as a type of harassment and intimidation and it makes people feel unsafe in their neighborhoods and at their schools and at their synagogues and that needs to end,” Oberacker, R-Schenevus, said. “My bill, S8774, is simple and straightforward. It will criminalize the display of Nazi symbols and give police and prosecutors another tool to charge those who are targeting Jewish individuals. It's time here at Albany to make all of these bills an immediate priority to ensure no one comes under attack because of their faith and/or their religion.”
The task force is calling for dedicated funding in the state budget for improving security for synagogues and yeshivas.
At a meeting of the Hate and Bias Prevention Unit in New York City in January, Gov. Kathy Hochul said threats were up 400% since the Oct. 7 breakout of war in Gaza after Hamas militants stormed into Israel.
Hochul’s State of the State agenda also included a proposal to expand the current list of 66 offenses eligible for prosecution as a hate crime to 97 offenses and her Executive Budget included raising state funding to $35 million for the Communities Against Hate initiative, and allow eligible organizations, like synagogues or mosques, to request up to $200,000 each for physical security and cybersecurity projects at their facilities. The state budget is due April 1, but negotiations are now expected to continue into the first week of April.
In December, a 28-year-old Schenectady man was arrested and charged for firing two rounds from a pump shotgun at Albany’s Temple Israel before fleeing.