Latest news with #RonHalber
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Just stunned': Montgomery County leaders react to deadly shooting of Israeli Embassy staffers in DC
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. () – Leaders in the Montgomery County Jewish community are devastated after a outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C. on Wednesday night. 'I think everybody who I've spoken to and myself, is just stunned,' Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said. 'The lives of a beautiful couple that was getting ready to get engaged was cut down short simply because they were Jewish and they decided that was a good enough reason to kill them.' 'Death penalty eligible case': Suspect charged in shooting that killed two Israeli Embassy staff members, officials say Halber said he didn't know the couple, but he knows their supervisor. 'They were both interested in peace work and making the world a better place and had such a wonderful, promising future,' he said. Halber said there has been a significant rise in acts of hate and antisemitism across the country for several years. 'I think people are more concerned than they were yesterday, and how can you blame them?' he said. The Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD) hopes to alleviate some fears by increasing patrols around Jewish institutions. 'We will continue our operations in that until such time that we can feel confident that our community feels a little bit better,' MCPD Assistant Chief Darren Francke said. 'Act of terrorism': DMV, world leaders react to fatal shooting of couple working at Israeli embassy in DC Halber said he's thankful for MCPD's support but knows a more concrete security plan will be needed. 'One of the things that we're doing is trying to hire private armed security and that requires spending millions of dollars a year collectively,' he said. MCPD's increased patrols are expected to last at least through the end of the week. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
For Washington's Jewish community, the killings are ‘the nightmare that we've all been afraid of.'
Rabbi Shira Stutman, the founder of the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, showed up midmorning on Thursday at the Capital Jewish Museum to pray and mourn. It was something she just needed to do, she said, after two Israeli Embassy aides — a young couple — were shot and killed the night before while leaving the museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting a reception for young diplomats. Several hundred thousand people compose the Jewish community in the Greater Washington area, including Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland, making it one of the biggest Jewish population centers in the country. Yet it is a very close community, the rabbi said. 'This could have been one of our kids,' Rabbi Stutman, who lives in Washington but now leads a congregation in Colorado, said of the shootings. For many young people, politically active or not, Wednesday night's reception at the Capital Jewish Museum would have been a networking opportunity — or even a chance to find a potential husband or a wife, Rabbi Stutman said. Such events are very popular in the Washington area among young Jewish people who want to socialize while supporting a cause. But no one thought the night would end as it did. Not here. Not in the nation's capital. Ron Halber, chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, called the killings 'a political assassination' and 'the nightmare that we've all been afraid of.' He said he had always told friends that he was lucky to live in the Washington area because violence against the Jewish community was uncommon there. 'We haven't, in 50, 60 years, seen a major incident,' Mr. Halber said. 'Unfortunately, that record has been broken now.' Jewish organizations in the area are still trying to process what happened, some leaders say, and several expect to hold official vigils for the couple.
