A multi-million dollar non-profit organization has launched a fundraising campaign to thank the NYPD for being “a true friend to the Jewish community” amid a surge of anti-Israel protests and antisemitic attacks across the Big Apple.
The Paul E. Singer Foundation — the charitable outfit of hedge fund billionaire Paul E. Singer — is looking to raise at least $250,000 for the New York City Police Foundation and has vowed to match up to $200,000 in funds either donated or committed.
Organizers pointed to the heavy NYPD presence that kept participants safe at this year’s Israel Day Parade on Fifth Avenue — the first since Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 massacre.
“We are grateful to everyone who marched, but we found ourselves feeling especially fortunate to have had the protection of New York’s Finest,” the organizers wrote on the fundraising page.
Organizers also thanked the department for protecting Jewish New Yorkers from “other threats to our community” since Hamas’ attack on Israel last year.
“The New York Police Department has been resolute in its pursuit to maintain law and order to protect all New Yorkers,” a source familiar with the campaign told The Post in a Friday interview.
“This has been particularly challenging over the past nine months for those of us in the Jewish community.”
The source cited the police presence June 10 as an angry mob descended on the Nova Music Festival Exhibition on Wall Street, which memorializes the murder and rape victims of the Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival, where 364 people were killed by Hamas terrorists.
He also pointed to the NYPD’s efforts to “restore safety and order” at Columbia University in the spring, when a mob of anti-Israel protesters descended on the Ivy League campus, including its iconic Hamilton Hall.
“All of those sort of put together inspired us to do something to demonstrate our support and we’re so eager and grateful for the police force,” the source said. “And so we wanted to put together this sort of public-facing initiative on behalf of the New York City Police Foundation.”
By Friday afternoon, more than $165,000 of the $250,000 goal had been reached. The fundraiser is expected to close around 5 p.m. Monday.
Among the contributors was author, columnist, news commentator and political adviser Dan Senor.
“I just donated to this “Thank NYPD” campaign—an important way for the local Jewish community to say thank you to New York’s Finest for having our backs this year,” Senor posted on X.
Senor previously served as senior foreign policy adviser for Mitt Romney during his 2012 bid for the presidency, as well as chief spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
He co-authored The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World, published last year, and Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, which hit the shelves back in 2009.
The fundraiser comes as the NYPD has fielded 189 reports of hate crimes targeting Jewish victims in the city this year, compared to 107 during the same period last year.
“The terror attacks on October 7th changed the public safety landscape, and we’re still feeling the ripple effects of that terrible day,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at a pre-Passover security briefing this year.