Mass. Rep. Auchincloss calls out Boston City Council for rejecting $13M anti-terrorism grant
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss isn’t mincing words when it comes to Boston City Council’s vote to reject a $13.3 million federal anti-terrorism grant backed by Mayor Michelle Wu, calling the move “disappointing” at a time of increased antisemitism and hate crimes as the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas continues into its fourth month.
“This funding is crucial to counter-terrorism preparedness in Greater Boston, which is especially salient considering heightened threats of terrorism fueled by antisemitism and anti-Zionism,” Auchincloss, D-4th District, wrote in a Thursday letter to new Council President Ruthzee Louijeune.
The legislative panel deadlocked in a 6-6 vote last month, which blocked the flow of the money, according to the Boston Herald. Auchincloss, who is Jewish and a former Marine, represents Brookline, one of nine communities that would have benefited from the funding, the newspaper reported.
Leaders in the inner-ring suburb, which has a substantial Jewish population, used a similar federal allocation last year for personnel training, new public safety, and community preparedness measures, the Democratic lawmaker told Louijeune.
The money is traditionally earmarked cities and regions at a “high risk for terrorist activity, and it has historically been approved unanimously by the Boston City Council,” Auchincloss observed, adding that councilors should approve the money when Wu refiles her application with the city’s legislative body.
“It is disappointing that its allocation was delayed in December, the same month hat the FBI director issued his warning to the nation, and just as Boston was experiencing a surge of incidents of antisemitism that track ADL’s national statistics,” Auchincloss wrote.
Boston was among the U.S. cities that saw a “record” increase in antisemitic hate crimes over the last two years, charting a 56% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes by the end of 2022, according to a newly released report.
The 23 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded in Boston between 2021 and the end of last year were the most since the FBI began collecting the data in 1991, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. The data were first reported by Axios.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes increased in Boston after the start of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas last October, Axios reported, citing the new data. Hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians also increased during the same time period, Axios further reported.
Overall, Boston recorded 158 hate crimes against all impacted groups by the end of 2022, a 7% increase from the year before.
The 14 crimes reported against Jewish residents in Boston in 2022 marked a 56% increase from the year before.
The new data mirror a similar report released last October by the ADL, which charted an alarming increase in antisemitic hate crimes after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist group.
The ADL said it recorded a total of “312 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7-23, 2023, 190 of which were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza.”
In comparison, “during the same period in 2022, ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents, including four that were Israel-related,” the ADL data showed. An interactive map of where incidents occurred last October can be found on the ADL’s website.
“The Israel-Hamas War has heightened our region’s need for counter-terrorism security measures. Greater Boston is a national hub for the Jewish community. As antisemitism proliferates, counter-terrorism funding is more pertinent than ever. Impeding its disbursement could undermine the trust of Greater Boston’s Jewish community,” Auchincloss wrote.
By: John L. Micek
Source: MassLive