PARAMUS, N.J. — More than $42 million in federal security funding is heading to New Jersey to help protect houses of worship following a sharp rise in threats against religious institutions, with roughly $21 million earmarked for Bergen, Passaic and Sussex counties, according to a Thursday report by The Bergen Record.
The funding, announced by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, can be used by synagogues, churches, mosques, temples and religious schools for security upgrades including surveillance cameras, reinforced doors and fencing, access controls and trained security personnel.
The announcement comes as Jewish communities across New Jersey continue to face record levels of antisemitism.
According to the Bergen Record, recent incidents have included a June arrest of a Wayne man accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on a Passaic County synagogue, gunfire directed at a Jewish organization in Lakewood and swastikas and antisemitic graffiti discovered inside a yeshiva and synagogue there just last week. Earlier this year, a young Jewish man walking to synagogue in Teaneck was shot with a pellet gun in what authorities investigated as a bias incident.
"Churches, synagogues, schools and other houses of worship have had to spend their own money... just so their congregants can pray safely," Gottheimer said during a Paramus press conference. "In the greatest country in the world, no one should ever feel unsafe in their own house of worship."
Jason Shames, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, told the newspaper that more than 83 percent of all religion-based bias incidents in New Jersey target Jews, forcing Jewish institutions to shoulder millions of dollars in additional security costs.
The Bergen Record also reported that New Jersey ranks third in the nation for antisemitic incidents, with Bergen County recording the highest number in the state, underscoring why many local synagogues, yeshivas and Jewish organizations have increasingly relied on grants to strengthen security in recent years.