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In the wake of the Colleyville synagogue hostage attack, Texas Senator Ted Cruz met with Jewish leaders and city officials on Friday to discuss ways to combat antisemitism and how to keep Texas synagogues safe.

After talking with Colleyville Mayor Richard Newton, Cruz spoke about meeting with the local Jewish community who he said were still in “shock and mourning,” according to the Dallas Morning News.

“The virulent hatred of Jewish people is wrong, it is evil, it is horrific, it is dangerous and has been used to justify some of the most horrific atrocities this planet has ever seen,” Cruz told the media.

Cruz showed his support for the community by attending a Shabbat service at Congregation Beth Israel. He added that he has spoken by phone with the rabbi and three other hostages.

Cruz said that his office will be working to find out why many synagogues who have applied for federal security funding have had their grants denied without explanation.

He said he intends to “try to get answers.”

“I intend to work to significantly increase the funding that is available so that more houses of worship are able to receive grants to harden and strengthen their facilities,” Cruz said.

He also commented that a “serious conversation” was ongoing about how the hostage taker, 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram, was able to enter the country.

Cruz and 10 other GOP Senators released a letter on Tuesday demanding to know why Akram was not on the US terror watchlist since he had been under the watch of British terrorism investigators since 2020.

“I have not [received any answers] as to why he came in, what we know about his criminal record, what we knew about his terrorist ties and his radicalization,” Cruz said. “It is frustrating that the Biden administration is extraordinarily slow in responding to congressional oversight and so we just get crickets chirping.”