Latest news with #JewishSafety
The Guardian
5 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.'
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Jewish U.S. senators fear for their safety after Boulder flamethrower attack: ‘Antisemitic to their core'
Jewish Democratic senators are fearing for their safety after a rash of ultra-violent antisemitic attacks in the past month. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst, said her synagogue, Temple Beth-El has faced increased threats. 'They are antisemitic to their core, and it's domestic terrorism, and it needs to treated appropriately,' she told The Independent. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that ICE agents had taken the wife and children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman into custody. This came after police in Boulder, Colorado arrested Soliman for allegedly throwing molotov cocktails at a peaceful demonstration for Israeli hostages on Sunday. FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said that Soliman allegedly used a 'makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device' and chanted 'Free Palestine.' The attack left six victims, ranging from 67 to 88, including one Holocaust survivor. The Boulder attack came only days after a shooting at a Jewish museum left two staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC dead. Elias Rodriguez later told police, 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.' And in April, police arrested and charged a man with murder and terrorism after he allgedly firebombed the mansion of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. The man accused of arson allegedly did so because of Shapiro's views about Israel's war in Gaza after the attack on October 7, 2023. 'I think as a senator and as a Jewish senator, I've always lived with a heightened threat perception, and we've had people convicted of threatening me so but certainly we watch for that special category of anti semitic hate, since there's lots of people who like to use that as another reason to threaten,' Slotkin said. California Sen. Adam Schiff, a felloww Democrat, said that as a Jewish politician with a high level of visibility during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, he had a heightened sense of the need for security. 'I think probably all the Jewish legislators are thinking about our personal safety,' Schiff told The Independent. 'Sadly for for me, that has always been pretty high, so that's not a new phenomenon.' For some, the attacks conjure painful memories. The father of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), escaped Nazi Germany for the United States in the 1930s. 'Those are horrifying examples, got to draw clear a line, not acceptable,' he told The Independent. 'Certainly I remember hearing my folks about anti semitism.' Jewish voters historically tend to vote Democratic, though divisions exist within the party on Israel. Some progressive Democratic lawmakers in the House have said that Israel's assault on Gaza after October 7 that has led to more than 50,000 deaths amounts to a genocide or war crimes. At the same time, some Jewish senators have loudly criticized Israel's government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even while condemning Hamas for the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel that saw some 250 people taken hostage and 1,200 people brutally murdered. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who spent some of his youth on a kibbutz in Israel, has regularly criticized the Netanyahu government and has sponsored legislation to block the sale of weapons to the Israeli government. But Sanders also had family who died in the Holocaust in Poland and criticized antisemitic attacks. 'Antisemitism is a disgusting ideology and we've got to do everything we can to combat it,' he told The Independent.
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Shooting at Capital Jewish Museum highlights rising wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes
The shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C., after a Jewish event Wednesday highlights the struggle American cities face trying to protect Jewish citizens and landmarks, which have repeatedly been targeted by radicals and terrorists over the years. Anti-Jewish hate crimes have soared to record highs, according to the Anti-Defamation League, citing FBI data. Massacres include the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018 and the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack Hamas launched on Israel. Large police departments, like the NYPD, have been focused on target-hardening efforts to improve safety in and around Jewish landmarks for years. "Unfortunately, over the decades, special attention has had to be paid when there is a Jewish or Israeli theme to these locations and events," said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD Inspector. "This was only heightened after 9/11, after the Tree of Life murders in Pittsburgh, after 7 October – after so many others." In New York, police have visibly beefed up their presence outside synagogues, the Israeli consulate and the Big Apple's own Jewish Museum. When there's even the perceived chance of a threat, the department will routinely beef up security around Jewish landmarks in the city. Some have a visible police presence all year. "The good news is that NYPD knows how to do this and, while nothing is perfect, they have developed great expertise in this area — often thanks to best-practices gleaned from partner agencies around the world," Mauro said. Many other departments have adopted the NYPD's protocols. Whenever attacks take place, police around the country are quick to announce increased patrols near places of worship. Despite years of police efforts, attacks continue, including a shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night. The 31-year-old suspect, Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, is accused of fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy workers from behind after they left an event sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. Mauro told Fox News Digital that visible security measures may have influenced the decision to attack outside the venue rather than within the building. "The fact that the story is that he was pacing around out front, and that the event was going on right there, and then he decided to do it outside?" he said. "He traveled all the way from Chicago to do this?" He noted that the venue and organizers did have some security measures in place. The invitations were encrypted and limited. At least one off-duty MPD officer was inside for security. The officer, who was wearing a police vest, may have scared the suspected gunman from opening fire inside the building, he said. "I think he saw the security and said, 'I'm better off not going in there and getting shot myself,'" Mauro speculated. "He didn't decide to shoot it out. He decided to pull a Mangione. He wanted to live." Luigi Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League grad turned suspected killer, is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson from behind after stalking him in Manhattan. He allegedly had a manifesto outlining his disdain for the health insurance industry in his backpack when police arrested him at a Pennsylvania McDonald's days later. A possible manifesto from Rodriguez was being investigated by the FBI to verify its authenticity, Deputy Director Dan Bongino revealed on X Thursday. The Jewish community has also taken its own measures to increase security. Texas resident David Katz, a former DEA agent and the CEO of the Global Security Group, uses his expertise on active-shooter response to train Jewish volunteers to protect their own synagogues on the side. "I can't believe, still, that someone could be pacing in an agitated manner outside a major Jewish institution and no one challenges the guy?" he told Fox News Digital. "No one calls the police to even interview him?" An outside presence is a key aspect of security that Katz teaches, he said. "In my synagogue, one of the volunteers would simply go out and say hi," he explained. "Engage the person and see how they respond. You look for body language clues while scanning for concealed weapons. We would have back-up volunteers ready to act. Everyone is armed and everyone is trained."
