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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Unnerved Jewish Americans reconsider safety protocols after string of attacks
On the first night of Passover, it seemed like a one off – an arson attack on Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro's mansion. The arsonist, per police, took issue with Shapiro's stance on Israel and Palestine. Then, in late May, outside an American Jewish Committee young professionals' event for young Jews in the DC area to meet young diplomats, two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed; the shooter yelled, 'Free Palestine.' Roughly a week and a half later, in Boulder, Colorado, a rally in solidarity with hostages held in Gaza was firebombed; the attacker also reportedly yelled, 'Free Palestine.' The string of events have deeply unnerved Jewish Americans of all stripes. Despite a wide range of political views, there exists a measure of consensus among Jewish institutions that they need to reconsider their safety protocols. There is less unity on the root causes of the violence, and what policy solutions should address it. 'I don't know anyone who isn't rethinking their security and the security of the Jewish institutions that they visit,' said Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. Many synagogues have recently heightened security, whether in the form of armed guards, metal detectors, surveillance systems or some combination. Rabbi Joe Black is a senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation in Denver, Colorado, a Jewish community he described as 'closely linked' to Boulder's. He said that his synagogue has in recent years upped its spending on security in response to rising antisemitism, putting in place guards, cameras and security systems. The last several weeks have also seen a change of protocols. 'I never liked the thought of having armed guards in the synagogue. I do now. And I hate that,' Black said. Meanwhile, Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, recently called for Congress to increase funding for security at Jewish institutions. The American Jewish community is deeply divided over thorny questions around when calls for Palestinian rights cross over into antisemitism. Many view the string of attacks as part of a rising wave of antisemitism fueled by the pro-Palestinian movement. Some on the left, on the other hand, object to conflations of anti-Zionism with antisemitism that are used to suppress protest against Israel's US-backed war in Gaza. The recent acts of violence all involved targets associated to varying degrees with Jewish life but also with Israel – though it is not entirely clear what the perpetrators knew about them or, in the case of the latter two, precisely how they selected their targets. For some, particularly more conservative voices, the issue is one of speech that has gotten out of hand. Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, has singled out Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and university graduation speakers who have spoken out in support of Palestinian rights, whom he accused of spreading 'blood libel' against Jews. 'We've got to stop it once and for all,' he said on Fox News. 'We were told over and over again that this was just freedom of speech being exercised. It should not be misunderstood at this point: When someone says 'Free Palestine,' what they mean is 'kill Jews,'' Dr Nolan Lebowitz, senior rabbi at California's Valley Beth Shalom, one of the largest conservative synagogues in the country, told the Guardian. He pointed as an example to a protest on 8 October 2023 that included some voices that appeared to celebrate the Hamas attacks from the day before, referring to it as a 'terror parade'. Others see a different kind of predictability, arguing that if Jewish institutions themselves blur the lines between Judaism and support for Israel – particularly as Israel wages a war in Gaza that has killed a conservative estimate of more than 50,000 Palestinians since the 7 October attacks – it is inevitable that others will, too. 'When you have the main [Jewish] institutions … consistently hammering home that Zionism and Judaism are entirely equivalent, that you can't have Judaism without Zionism, and that 90% of American Jews are Zionist – how do you expect people outside of the community to not just take that for granted?' asked Andrue Kahn, the executive director of the American Council for Judaism, which is devoted to promoting Jewish life 'free from Zionist and other nationalist ideologies'. The backdrop to all of this is the Trump administration, which has spent the last several month cracking down on universities and detaining and trying to deport students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, all in the name of fighting antisemitism. In the wake of the attack in Washington DC, Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the term 'free Palestine' and vowed to continue a crackdown on foreign nationals. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, in a social media statement following the Boulder firebombing, did not explicitly mention Jews, but did blame his predecessor Joe Biden's border policies for the attack, suggesting he would use the attack as further justification for his anti-immigrant crackdown. 'I think one of the things that we've been seeing over the past several months is a weaponization of antisemitism by the current administration in order to promote policies that are contrary to my values, contrary to Jewish values,' said Black, the Reform rabbi from Denver. 'That doesn't mean antisemitism is not real. It needs to be addressed in a sane, clear, logical way.' Black believes that the attacks were a consequence of the term 'Zionism' being warped in public discourse to become synonymous with oppression. (He calls himself a 'proud Zionist' who supports Israel's right to defend itself but questions Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's motives in prosecuting the war.) Asked what steps he wanted to see taken, he, too, said he wanted more funding for nonprofit security – and also for politicians to avoid using the attacks to justify their own political ends. 'There's disagreement about what it will take for the current administration to really take on antisemitism,' said Jacobs, head of the URJ. Law enforcement needs to work with and be responsive to Jewish communities, he said, and there needs to be a national conversation about distinguishing between free speech and incitement to violence. 'But at the same time, we don't want to dismantle our democracy and the rule of law and constitutional rights. It's a delicate balance,' he continued. 'We have a wider Jewish community that's fearful,' he said. 'No one is surprised when they get the news flash that there's been yet another attack on the Jewish community.' There is one point of agreement: the answer is not for Jews to drop out of engaging civically and as Jews. Jacobs insisted: 'We will not accept a reality where people are just too afraid to participate in Jewish life.'
New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Live Updates: Colorado Attack That Injured 12 Was Planned for a Year, Officials Say
An Israeli flag near the scene of the attack in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday. The attack on demonstrators in Boulder, Colo., marching in support of hostages being held in Gaza would have been disturbing to Jewish people across the country even if it were the only recent event of its kind. The suspect told investigators after his arrest that he had been planning the attack for a year, according to court documents. Eight people were hospitalized. For many, the connections to other recent outbursts of violence were impossible to miss. The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy employees were shot and killed as they left a reception at a Jewish museum in Washington. A month earlier, an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion on the first night of Passover while Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, slept upstairs with his family. 'What we've seen these last few months is a shocking pattern of anti-Israel sentiment manifesting itself in antisemitic violence,' said Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 'With each incident, there's a further shattering of our sense of security.' In Colorado and Washington, authorities said, the suspects shouted 'Free Palestine' on the scene. In Pennsylvania, the arsonist later said he had set the fire as a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Ms. Soifer pointed out that the Molotov cocktails used by the attacker in Boulder were strikingly similar to the incendiary devices used by Cody Balmer, the man accused of arson in Pennsylvania. Image The Pennsylvania governor's mansion in Harrisburg, Pa., after an arsonist set a fire on the first night of Passover in April. man charged on Monday with a federal hate crime in Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, told investigators that he wanted to 'kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' according to papers filed in federal court. The drumbeat of violence erupting across the country and taking an unpredictable variety of forms has deepened anxieties among many American Jews, and contributed to a sense that simply existing in public as a Jewish person is increasingly dangerous. One of the victims of the attack at the march in Boulder was a Holocaust survivor, according to a friend of the victim who was at the scene. That all three attackers alluded to political objections to Israel raised concerns among many about the threat of left-wing political violence connected to the war in Gaza. The number of antisemitic episodes in the United States in 2023, in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, was the highest ever recorded in a one-year period, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 'Dangerous words turn into dangerous actions,' said Stefanie Clarke, the co-executive director of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, which she founded after the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 'We've been sounding the alarm about the rise in antisemitism, the dangerous rhetoric and the risks of this turning violent, and now we're seeing it play out.' Ms. Clarke, who lives in Boulder, noted that conflicts about the war have boiled over in City Council meetings there. Activists have urged the passage of a resolution advocating a cease-fire in Gaza, and some meetings have devolved into cursing and what one council member described in December as 'chanting, screaming and threatening conduct.' In February, a rabbi in Boulder, Marc Soloway, wrote an open letter to the City Council in which he described being physically and verbally threatened at a council meeting. 'It is just a plain fact that many of us in Boulder's Jewish community simply do not feel safe or supported,' he wrote. 'Jews in America have mostly felt the threats of antisemitism from the far right in the form of White Supremacy, yet now many of us have experienced hatred, bigotry and intolerance from progressives, those who many of us have considered friends and allies.' In April, an opponent of Israel's war in Gaza circulated a 'Wanted' poster online that showed the faces of seven council members, writing that they were 'complicit in genocide' for not passing the resolution. Across the country, many Jews say they have observed an uptick in antisemitism, both personally and in the broader culture, in recent years. Image A memorial at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh after a gunman killed 11 worshipers in 2018. Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times In a survey of 1,732 Jews conducted in the fall of 2024, the American Jewish Committee found that 93 percent said antisemitism was at least somewhat of a problem, and a similar share said it had increased over the past five years. Almost a quarter of respondents said they had been the target of at least one antisemitic remark in the past year, and 2 percent said they had been physically attacked. The deadliest antisemitic attack in American history remains the assault at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed 11 worshipers and wounded six others in 2018. The Tree of Life shooter, who was condemned to death by federal jurors in 2023, seemed to be motivated by right-wing extremism. So, too, was the gunman who opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, Calif., in 2019. Experts emphasize that right-wing antisemitism remains a major threat. But the sprawling protest movement against the war in Gaza has scrambled efforts to distinguish opposition to the actions of the Israeli government, or even to the state of Israel itself, from hostility to Jews. Critics of the protesters have argued that slogans like 'globalize the Intifada' are thinly veiled calls for violence in any Jewish space. In the Anti-Defamation League's latest annual audit of antisemitic incidents in the United States, the organization found that for the first time, a majority of incidents (58 percent) had 'elements that related to Israel or Zionism.' Several Jewish organizations suggested in statements that the attacks undercut attempts to distinguish antisemitism from anti-Zionism, a distinction made by many activists critical of Israel's approach to the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 50,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry. 'Make no mistake: If and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel's actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as antisemitism,' the chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Amy Spitalnick, said in a statement. The Trump administration has made fighting antisemitism a vocal priority, often using the issue to escalate the president's attacks on elite universities and to reinforce his goal to dramatically reduce immigration. Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 29 aimed at combating 'an unprecedented wave of vile antisemitic discrimination, vandalism and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.' Mr. Trump said on social media on Monday that attacks like the one in Boulder 'WILL NOT BE TOLERATED,' criticizing former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for letting Mr. Soliman into the country. Mr. Soliman came to the country legally on a tourist visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Critics say that Mr. Trump's other actions have undercut his claims of concern about rising antisemitism. A temporary freeze in funding of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for example, paused support for a security grant program that served many synagogues and other Jewish institutions.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
After recent attacks, American Jews are feeling increased anxiety
'What we've seen these last few months is a shocking pattern of anti-Israel sentiment manifesting itself in antisemitic violence,' said Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 'With each incident there's a further shattering of our sense of security.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In Colorado and Washington, authorities said, the suspects shouted 'Free Palestine' on the scene. In Pennsylvania, the arsonist later said he set the fire as a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Soifer pointed out that the Molotov cocktails used by the attacker in Boulder were strikingly similar to the incendiary devices used by Cody Balmer, the man accused of arson in Pennsylvania. The man charged Monday with a federal hate crime in Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, told investigators that he wanted to 'kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' according to papers filed in federal court. Advertisement The drumbeat of violence, erupting across the country and taking an unpredictable variety of forms, has deepened anxieties among many American Jews, and contributed to a sense that simply existing in public as a Jewish person is increasingly dangerous. One of the victims of the attack at the march in Boulder was a Holocaust survivor, according to a friend of the victim who was at the scene. J. Bishop Grewell, the acting US attorney for Colorado, spoke on Monday about the attack in that city. MICHAEL CIAGLO/NYT That all three attackers alluded to political objections to Israel raised concerns among many about the threat of left-wing political violence connected to the war in Gaza. The number of antisemitic episodes in the United States in 2023, in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, was the highest ever recorded in a one-year period, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 'Dangerous words turn into dangerous actions,' said Stefanie Clarke, the co-executive director of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, which she founded after the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 'We've been sounding the alarm about the rise in antisemitism, the dangerous rhetoric and the risks of this turning violent, and now we're seeing it play out.' Clarke, who lives in Boulder, noted that conflicts about the war have boiled over in City Council meetings there. Activists have urged the passage of a resolution advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and some meetings have devolved into cursing and what one council member described in December as 'chanting, screaming, and threatening conduct.' In February, a rabbi in Boulder, Marc Soloway, wrote an open letter to the City Council in which he described being physically and verbally threatened at a council meeting. 'It is just a plain fact that many of us in Boulder's Jewish community simply do not feel safe or supported,' he wrote. 'Jews in America have mostly felt the threats of antisemitism from the far right in the form of White Supremacy, yet now many of us have experienced hatred, bigotry and intolerance from progressives, those who many of us have considered friends and allies.' Advertisement In April, an opponent of Israel's war circulated a 'Wanted' poster online that showed the faces of seven council members, writing that they were 'complicit in genocide' for not passing the resolution. Across the country, many Jews say they have observed an uptick in antisemitism, both personally and in the broader culture, in recent years. In a survey of 1,732 Jews conducted in the fall of 2024, the American Jewish Committee found that 93% said antisemitism was at least somewhat of a problem, and a similar share said it had increased over the last five years. Almost a quarter of respondents said they had been the target of at least one antisemitic remark in the past year, and 2% said they had been physically attacked. The deadliest antisemitic attack in American history remains the assault at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed 11 worshippers and wounded six others in 2018. The Tree of Life shooter, who was condemned to death by federal jurors in 2023, seemed to be motivated by right-wing extremism. So, too, was the gunman who opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, in 2019. Experts emphasize that right-wing antisemitism remains a major threat. But the sprawling protest movement against the war in Gaza has scrambled attempts to distinguish opposition to the actions of the Israeli government, or even to the state of Israel itself, from hostility to Jews. Critics of the protesters have argued that slogans like 'globalize the Intifada' are thinly veiled calls for violence in any Jewish space. Advertisement In the Anti-Defamation League's latest annual audit of antisemitic incidents in the United States, the organization found that for the first time, a majority of incidents (58%) had 'elements that related to Israel or Zionism.' Several Jewish organizations suggested in statements that the attacks undercut attempts to distinguish antisemitism from anti-Zionism, a distinction made by many activists critical of Israeli's approach to the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 50,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry. 'Make no mistake: if and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel's actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as antisemitism,' the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Amy Spitalnick, said in a statement. The Trump administration has made fighting antisemitism a vocal priority, often using the issue to escalate the president's attacks on elite universities and to reinforce his goal to dramatically reduce immigration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 29 aimed at combating 'an unprecedented wave of vile antisemitic discrimination, vandalism and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.' Trump said on social media Monday that attacks like the one in Boulder 'WILL NOT BE TOLERATED,' criticizing former President Joe Biden for letting Soliman into the country. Soliman came to the country legally on a tourist visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Critics say that Trump's other actions have undercut his claims of concern about rising antisemitism. A temporary freeze in funding of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for example, paused support for a security grant program that served many synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
After several attacks, heightened anxiety among American Jews
People lay flowers at the site of the attack outside the Boulder County Courthouse on June 2 in Boulder, Colorado. PHOTO: AFP NEW YORK - The attack on demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, marching in support of Israeli hostages being held in the Gaza Strip would have been disturbing to Jewish people across the country even if it were the only recent event of its kind. The suspect told investigators after his arrest that he had been planning the attack for a year, according to court documents. Eight people were hospitalised. For many, the connections to other recent outbursts of violence were impossible to miss. The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy employees were shot and killed as they left a reception at a Jewish museum in Washington. A month earlier, an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion on the first night of Passover while Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, slept upstairs with his family. 'What we've seen these last few months is a shocking pattern of anti-Israel sentiment manifesting itself in anti-semitic violence,' said Ms Halie Soifer, chief executive officer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 'With each incident there's a further shattering of our sense of security.' In Colorado and Washington, authorities said, the suspects shouted 'Free Palestine' on the scene. In Pennsylvania, the arsonist later said he set the fire as a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Ms Soifer pointed out that the Molotov cocktails used by the attacker in Boulder were strikingly similar to the incendiary devices used by Cody Balmer, the man accused of arson in Pennsylvania. The man charged on June 2 with a federal hate crime in Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, told investigators that he wanted to 'kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' according to papers filed in federal court. The drumbeat of violence, erupting across the country and taking an unpredictable variety of forms, has deepened anxieties among many American Jews, and contributed to a sense that simply existing in public as a Jewish person is increasingly dangerous. One of the victims of the attack at the march in Boulder was a Holocaust survivor, according to a friend of the victim who was at the scene. That all three attackers alluded to political objections to Israel raised concerns among many about the threat of left-wing political violence connected to the war in Gaza. The number of anti-semitic episodes in the United States in 2023, in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, was the highest ever recorded in a one-year period, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 'Dangerous words turn into dangerous actions,' said Stefanie Clarke, the co-executive director of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, which she founded after the attacks in Israel on Oct 7, 2023. 'We've been sounding the alarm about the rise in anti-semitism, the dangerous rhetoric and the risks of this turning violent, and now we're seeing it play out.' Ms Clarke, who lives in Boulder, noted that conflicts about the war have boiled over in City Council meetings there. Activists have urged the passage of a resolution advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and some meetings have devolved into cursing and what one council member described in December as 'chanting, screaming, and threatening conduct'. In February, a rabbi in Boulder, Marc Soloway, wrote an open letter to the City Council in which he described being physically and verbally threatened at a council meeting. 'It is just a plain fact that many of us in Boulder's Jewish community simply do not feel safe or supported,' he wrote. 'Jews in America have mostly felt the threats of anti-semitism from the far right in the form of White Supremacy, yet now many of us have experienced hatred, bigotry and intolerance from progressives, those who many of us have considered friends and allies.' In April, an opponent of Israel's war circulated a 'Wanted' poster online that showed the faces of seven council members, writing that they were 'complicit in genocide' for not passing the resolution. Across the country, many Jews say they have observed an uptick in anti-semitism, both personally and in the broader culture, in recent years. In a survey of 1,732 Jews conducted in the fall of 2024, the American Jewish Committee found that 93 per cent said anti-semitism was at least somewhat of a problem, and a similar share said it had increased over the last five years. Almost a quarter of respondents said they had been the target of at least one anti-semitic remark in the past year, and 2 per cent said they had been physically attacked. The deadliest anti-semitic attack in American history remains the assault at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed 11 worshippers and wounded six others in 2018. The Tree of Life shooter, who was condemned to death by federal jurors in 2023, seemed to be motivated by right-wing extremism. So, too, was the gunman who opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, in 2019. Experts emphasise that right-wing anti-semitism remains a major threat. But the sprawling protest movement against the war in Gaza has scrambled attempts to distinguish opposition to the actions of the Israeli government, or even to the state of Israel itself, from hostility to Jews. Critics of the protesters have argued that slogans like 'globalise the Intifada' are thinly veiled calls for violence in any Jewish space. In the Anti-Defamation League's latest annual audit of anti-semitic incidents in the United States, the organisation found that for the first time, a majority of incidents (58 per cent) had 'elements that related to Israel or Zionism'. Several Jewish organisations suggested in statements that the attacks undercut attempts to distinguish anti-semitism from anti-Zionism, a distinction made by many activists critical of Israeli's approach to the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 50,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry. 'Make no mistake: If and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel's actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as anti-semitism,' the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Amy Spitalnick, said in a statement. The Trump administration has made fighting anti-semitism a vocal priority, often using the issue to escalate the president's attacks on elite universities and to reinforce his goal to dramatically reduce immigration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan 29 aimed at combating 'an unprecedented wave of vile anti-semitic discrimination, vandalism and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses'. Mr Trump said on social media on June 2 that attacks like the one in Boulder 'WILL NOT BE TOLERATED,' criticising former president Joe Biden for letting Soliman into the country. Soliman came to the country legally on a tourist visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Critics say that Mr Trump's other actions have undercut his claims of concern about rising anti-semitism. A temporary freeze in funding of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for example, paused support for a security grant programme that served many synagogues and other Jewish institutions. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
After Several Attacks, Heightened Anxiety Among American Jews
The attack on demonstrators in Boulder, Colo., marching in support of Israeli hostages would have been disturbing to Jewish people across the country even if it was the only such event of its kind. The suspect told investigators after his arrest that he had been planning the attack for a year, according to court documents. Eight people were hospitalized. For many, the connections to other recent outbursts of violence were impossible to miss. The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy employees were shot and killed as they left a reception at a Jewish museum in Washington. A month earlier, an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion on the first night of Passover while Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, slept upstairs with his family. 'What we've seen these last few months is a shocking pattern of anti-Israel sentiment manifesting itself in antisemitic violence,' said Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 'With each incident there's a further shattering of our sense of security.' In Colorado and Washington, authorities said, the suspects shouted 'Free Palestine' on the scene. In Pennsylvania, the arsonist later said he set the fire as a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Ms. Soifer pointed out that the Molotov cocktails used by the attacker in Boulder were strikingly similar to the incendiary devices used by Cody Balmer, the accused arsonist in Pennsylvania. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
