In the News

DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida congresswoman held discussions on how to step up security as Jewish communities across the country worry about their safety, days after an act of terror at a Michigan synagogue.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz met in Davie with several members of the law enforcement community and representatives of Jewish community institutions. They aimed to figure out how to best combat threats.

“What we all saw play out in Michigan last week was the kind of nightmare that our Jewish community said would unfold just outside our doors every day,” said Wasserman Schultz. “There are people who are lying in the shadows in wait to attack our community.”

Wasserman Schultz said she wanted to talk about how best to try to track and combat threats to different sorts of community institutions, whether they’re temples, synagogues, groups or schools.

The roundtable discussion also touched on a $400 million federal grant program that would allow for cameras, technology, security guards and money that would come from the federal government to help temples, synagogues, non-profit institutions, and community centers fight threats.

“These grants are the best tool that we have to fortify security in houses of worship of all faiths, and it’s not just the Jewish community that are facing rising risk,” said Wasserman Schultz.

“Whether it be camera systems, fencing, hardening different door systems, the issue is the processing element, and hearing from our rabbis today, many have already submitted applications for such funding, and they’re falling two, three years behind,” said Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony. “But now, we’re in a new environment, a new threat spectrum exists, and so now, they’re forced with, ‘Do we have the funding to purchase new equipment? Or should we pursue this grant, knowing it may take two to three years to get reimbursed?'”

Because it’s a very expensive process to try to harden community centers, a big topic of conversation was how to streamline that process to keep everyone safe and working together to try to track these threats.

Wasserman Schultz also spoke about paying back grants that were previously owed to religious institutions.

“So one of the institutions here, just got their 2023 grant that they were approved for,” said Wasserman Schultz.

7News spoke to a rabbi from a Chabad in Cooper City who said they are still waiting to be reimbursed for some security money they received from the federal government back in 2022.

“We’re still owed from the 2022 grant,” said Rabbi Pinny Andrusier, who leads the Chabad of Southwest Broward. “The war, there’s a lot of tension in the community, and we’re looking for, definitely, for more security.”

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation opened a regional threat center to monitor extremist chatter and other potential threats to the Jewish community.

The key to the meeting, according to those who attended, was coordination and increased funding.

“We are grateful to everyone here, who is standing behind me who works every day to keep us safe, but we know that there is always more that we can do,” said Audra Berg, the president of Jewish Federation of Broward County.

While conversations are ongoing, Tony recommended reaching out to state officials to try to facilitate federal funding for increased security towards religious organizations.