MEMORANDUM OF SUPPORT _ A. 2508 -S. 125

TO: Members of the Senate and Assembly Education Committees RE: S.125 Kaplan/ A. 2508 Eichenstein/A.4734 Stern
DATE: February 17, 2021

Agudath Israel of America supports the passage of A.2508/S.125, a bill that would require hate crime awareness be added to school curriculums.

This bill would require schools to add hate crime awareness to the curriculum to educate students as to what discrimination looks like and positive actions they can take to combat it. It is crucial that we educate students on
what discrimination looks like and how to stop it, specifically anti-Semitism, as anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for 87.12% of religiously motivated hate crimes, in New York, in 2020, according to NYPD hate crime statistics.

Agudath Israel also supports A.4734, which would require a course of Holocaust education and other genocide to be taught in New York schools. The Holocaust is a prime example of unchecked hate and its study is thus imperative in the fight against hate and anti-Semitism.

For all of the above we support this bill and urge its passage.