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The Colleyville rabbi held hostage in January went to Congress to make an urgent plea

Congregation Beth Israel Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker (facing camera) hugs a man after a healing service Monday night, Jan. 17, 2022, at White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake. Cytron-Walker was one of four people held hostage by a gunman at his Colleyville, Texas, synagogue on Jan. 15.

In the wake of the Colleyville synagogue hostage standoff, congressional lawmakers from both parties and the Biden administration appear on board with a plan to roughly double funding for federal grants to help faith-based institutions fortify themselves against hate crimes and terrorist attacks.

The question is, where the money will go?

At a congressional hearing convened Tuesday, Jewish leaders told a House subcommittee that the federal program was not only deficient in funds, but so complex to navigate and slow to deliver that it made the few funds available extremely difficult to unlock.

Roughly half of applicants for funding from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which has $160 million available each year, are denied. Rejected applicants are given no explanation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency whether it was due to a lack of funds, problems with their forms, or insufficient cause.

Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville has been hailed as a real-world success story of the program. With a federal grant, the synagogue had upgraded its security camera system that ultimately allowed law enforcement to track the movements of the British man who held four people during shabbat services Jan. 15.

But even its rabbi, who was one of the hostages and led a daring escape that night, says the grant program is insufficient to meet the threats of the moment.

“My understanding is that the funding is not at a level where it can meet the urgent needs of the communities it was created to protect,” Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker told lawmakers at the hearing Tuesday. He said it took the goodwill of a volunteer in his congregation to slog through the federal grant application.

“Every congregation needs to be prepared, yet the gap between the need and funding is profound,” he said.

Rabbi Yosef Konikov, from Chabad of South Orlando, Florida, told the House hearing that a doubling of funds to $360 million might not be enough.

A neo-Nazi group stationed itself outside of Konikov’s Chabad center several months ago, using loudspeakers and antisemitic signs to target the facility and encouraging motorists to honk if they agreed – several of whom did, he said. That same group staged neo-Nazi demonstrations in Orlando two weeks ago that made national headlines.

“The NSGP is an amazing program, but it’s a very competitive one, and fewer than half of applicant sites were awarded nationally last year,” Konikov said. “We did receive a grant in 2020, but then COVID hit, and red tape has caused delays. Despite the award, we have not been able to implement the grant yet, sadly.”

Jewish leaders have complained that the grant applications are cumbersome government forms that are not designed for small congregations, many of which are manned by volunteers, to navigate on their own.

“The authorized equipment list from which you can purchase items is not really designed for faith-based institutions or laypeople to take advantage of. It’s the same authorized equipment list if I were running a major gas refinery,” said Michael Masters, national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network, which serves as a liaison between law enforcement and the Jewish community.

The grants are meant to fund security improvements such as bulletproof doors, shatterproof glass, personalized training and cameras. But Jewish organizations are also asking for some funding to be allocated to human resources at FEMA that can help streamline the process for applicants.

Days after the events in Colleyville, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressed support for more funds.

“We must dedicate more funding to this vital effort,” Mayorkas said. “We will be working intensively with Congress to ensure we can increase funding so that our faith-based communities have what they need to upgrade their security and protect themselves against terrorism, hate crimes, and targeted violence. Increasing this funding is a foundational step to reinforcing and fortifying pillars of our community, places that should always remain houses of worship, prayer, gathering, and peace.”

Homeland Security says it has seen an increase among foreign terrorists and white supremacists to replicate the Colleyville hostage-taking. DHS on Monday issued a new bulletin in the National Terrorism Advisory System warning of “greater specificity” in calls for attacks against Jewish institutions.

The events in Colleyville have been praised by violent extremist groups on opposite sides of the political spectrum, from online platforms associated with al Qaeda and Islamic State, to those run by white supremacist networks, the DHS officials said.

“It doesn’t matter the ideology that’s coming through the door,” said Masters, of Secure Community Network. “There’s an academic discussion on antisemitism – we’re all trying to confront it, it’s well over 3,000 years old. But when we’re talking about the safety and security of people looking to worship in pray, the ideology of the person trying to get in is somewhat irrelevant. We need to make sure that the door is locked.”