The war in Gaza has uncovered a simmering pool of antisemitism in the United States, particularly among young people. It shows up at protests on college campuses and in cities. All too frequently, it’s been spilling over to harassment and even physical violence against Jews and others who publicly demonstrate support for Israel. In Maryland, Democratic Governor Wes Moore has admirably noticed the trend and is attempting to do something about it. This week he announced that he is freeing up one million dollars in state funds that will be made available in the form of grants to “local organizations and religious institutions” so they can hire security forces to protect their people. But of course, he had to engage in a bit of “both sides” rhetoric in the process. (Baltimore Sun)

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Monday that the state will fund an additional $1 million in grants for local organizations and religious institutions to hire security in response to a recent wave of hate crimes and incidents.

Eligible organizations can seek up to $40,000 in emergency state funding through the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services to protect themselves against hate crimes, according to a news release from Moore’s office.

The ongoing war in the Middle East has spurred a dramatic increase in hate crimes and hate incidents against both Jewish and Muslim communities in the United States, Moore’s office said citing the Anti-Defamation League and Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The one million dollars comes on top of the five million that the state is already granting for security upgrades and staff to nonprofits and faith-based organizations. This is certainly a welcome gesture and a step in the right direction, but it’s not a very large step. Each group applying for a grant will only be able to receive a maximum of $40,000.  I’m sure that would help somewhat, but that’s not going to pay for any decent number of professional, armed security guards for more than a month or so and this situation could wind up dragging on for quite a while.

As with most Democrats in this scenario, Moore’s office was quick to point out that the funds would be available to protect against hate crimes against both Jewish and Muslim communities. They cited not just the ADL, but also CAIR, which is notoriously biased. This is the “both sides” aspect of the debate that the Democrats cling to, but the response to the war in Gaza has not resulted in any sort of equal distribution of violence.

Yes, it’s true that there was one guy in Illinois who allegedly stabbed a six-year-old Muslim boy to death. That act was horrendous and should be roundly condemned. But the vast majority of intimidation and violence is being directed toward Jews. The pro-Israel protests have been almost entirely peaceful. If there was any balance in this plan, the lion’s share of the state money should be going in that direction. There are dozens of synagogues scattered across 43 cities in Maryland and they could probably all do with some extra security while this unrest is playing out. The ones closest to the state’s colleges and universities should be watched the most closely.

It will be interesting to see how long this level of attention and support continues. Democratic state administrations are always quick on the trigger to decry anything they view as racial hate crimes against minorities or supposed threats to gay or trans people and pour funding their way. But the very real issue of antisemitism never seems to be taken as seriously. We’ve had people (typically Black people for some reason) in New York City randomly attacking Jews on the streets for years if they are wearing traditional garb. Individual attackers are sometimes prosecuted, but nobody has been setting organized defense efforts for Jewish organizations. I suppose it literally required people to show up in the streets waving swastikas and calling for the death of Jewish people before they could be spurred into action.