SCRANTON, PA — U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam recently hosted meetings with Jewish leaders in Scranton and in Harrisburg to discuss their concerns about the recent increase in antisemitic speech and incidents of hate.

Those meetings, held in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, were attended by experts from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, PA Attorney General’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations, PA State Police, and local police departments and district attorney’s offices. They listened to the Jewish leaders’ safety concerns and encouraged them to report all hate incidents.

In February and March, Karam held similar meetings with local Muslim, Islamic, and Arab Christian leaders to discuss the equally troubling uprise in threats to their members.  “We continue to strengthen our partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement in conjunction with our stakeholders in the religious communities by holding these conversations to serve them better,” said Karam. “Hate-fueled violence and incidents will not be tolerated in our district, and we will continue to unite our stakeholders with the shared goal of reporting, preventing, disrupting, and prosecuting these crimes.”

The Middle District’s United Against Hate initiative seeks to build relationships between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and communities to build trust and encourage the reporting of hate crimes. To report possible civil rights violations, visit https://civilrights.justice.gov/report. Anyone in the Middle District of Pennsylvania may also report to the Civil Rights coordinator at 717-614-4911 or usapam.civil.rights@usdoj.gov.