Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is leading a call to boost federal funding for security at synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship as hate crimes increase and tensions rise over the war in Israel.

Murphy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, joined other senators Friday in seeking $500 million for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program. Organizations could use the funds for gates, motion lights, prevention planning exercises, contracts with security personnel, and other security hardening measures.

"In the wake of the horrific Hamas terror attacks on Israel," Murphy said, "I am deeply concerned about the increased threats against synagogues, mosques, and other religious institutions here at home."

In a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders, Murphy and three other Democratic senators wrote that "domestic terrorism and hate crimes targeted at vulnerable communities are at historic highs."

"Hate and extremism continue to pose a threat to minority communities and we should ensure that we are able to provide robust support to our constituencies who are threatened by such violence," the senators wrote.

Police in Connecticut have said they are on heightened alert and are sharing information on threats targeting synagogues and other places of worship. Rabbi Shaya Gopin of Chabad House of Greater Hartford said the state's Jewish population has to be practical "and conduct ourselves in a safe and secure way," while at the same time refusing to be intimidated and holding fast to its faith.

Omar Abdelgader, president of the New Britain-based Islamic Association of Central Connecticut, said the federal funding would be "more than welcome." The mosque could use the money to add cameras and a gate and to pay security guards when congregants gather for worship, Abdelgader said.

Mobashar Akram, general secretary of the Islamic Center of Connecticut based in Windsor, said he is concerned about safety at both mosques and synagogues as images of bloodshed in the ongoing war are flashed across screens.

"It just takes one person to cause a lot of damage," Akram said.

In its recently released annual crime report, the FBI listed three anti-Jewish hate crimes in Connecticut last year and three anti-Muslim hate crimes. Across the nation, the agency recorded more than 11,000 hate crime incidents, the most since it started collecting such data in 1991. The number included 1,124 incidents of anti-Jewish hate crime, an increase over 824 incidents reported in 2021. Anti-Muslim incidents increased to 158 last year from 153 incidents the year before, according to the FBI.

In recent weeks, since Hamas attacked Israel, reports of antisemitic incidents have been increasing around the country. At the same time, a recent attack on a Palestinian family in Illinois left a 6-year-old boy dead and his mother hospitalized. Muslim Americans also are reporting more incidents of violence and bigotry against their communities since the war started.

The Anti-Defamation League reported a 100 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in Connecticut last year - 34 incidents in 2021 and 68 in 2022 - compared with a 36 percent increase nationwide. The total in Connecticut included 55 incidents of harassment and 13 incidents of vandalism. No assaults were recorded in 2022, according to the report. Nationally, ADL recorded 3,697 antisemitic incidents in 2022, the highest total since the organization started tracking such data in 1979.

The organization, according to its Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, draws its numbers from both criminal and non-criminal incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault against individuals and groups as reported to the ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations.

As the war in Israel and Gaza continues, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, said, "we are likely to see threats to Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities grow ... Every American has the right to worship freely and without fear."

In their letter to Appropriations Committee leaders, Murphy and the other senators asked that the $500 million be split between eligible nonprofit organizations in high-risk urban areas and eligible organizations outside such areas. In the past fiscal year, the program distributed $305 million, but not all organizations that applied for funding received it, Murphy said.