Florida lawmakers plan to address rise of Jewish safety at next special session

Classes are canceled on Friday at Cornell University, citing the stress to students caused by the war in Israel and rise of antisemitism.

Twenty-one-year-old Cornell junior Patrick Dai was arrested for posting threats online calling for the death of Jewish people and threatening to shoot up a kosher dining hall.

Florida lawmakers don’t want it to get to that point, and they plan to take up two bills during Monday’s special session that will help pay for security at schools, museums and places of worship.

The goal is to protect any location they believe could be a target of hate crimes.

The anti-defamation league says antisemitic threats increased close to 400% shortly after Oct. 7, when the war in Israel began by marauding Palestinians, provoking the need to bring up the two bills during the next special session.

Lawmakers seek to allocate $10 million for security for schools, museums and Jewish facilities that are at high risk for hate crimes and violent attacks, while also allocating $25 million for Jewish pre-schools and day schools.

The special session starts Monday, and the next regular session will be Jan. 9.