Jewish communities throughout the country are being urged to remain vigilant, be in touch with police and other law enforcement agencies and review their security arrangements after a fatal shooting at Seattle’s Jewish federation last Friday, July 28.
But leaders of local Jewish organizations report that their institutions are operating as usual, without panic.
Richard H. Meyer, executive vice president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation told The Chronicle, “Members of the community are asking me about security, not out of concern for their own personal safety, but rather out of commitment and support for the community.”
“Based on our established protocols, which are constantly being reviewed, we are ratcheting up security to the next level,” Meyer said.
The MJF held a staff meeting Monday morning to reassure and update staff on security measures in place.
Jay R. Roth, president of Milwaukee’s Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, said that the only members expressing concern to him have been families with very young children.
“We have hired security guards” for the JCC’s facility on the Karl Jewish Community Campus, the Albert & Ann Deshur JCC Rainbow Day Camp and the Steve and Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken, Roth said. His staff members have notified all families with children in the toddler programs and kindergarten and first-grade camps of that fact, he said.
“We will monitor [the situation] week-by-week and keep [the guards] as long as necessary,” Roth said.
Madison Jewish Community Council executive director Steven H. Morrison said that when he heard the news last Friday, “I shuddered and felt for my colleagues in Seattle.
“What I’ve said to members of our community who have called is that we have taken the appropriate steps so you should feel comfortable fully participating in Jewish life here in Madison,” he said.
Noting that the Madison community has had a formal emergency plan at least since the 1990s and relationships with law enforcement officials at all levels, Morrison added, “No community events are taking place; school is not in session and Hillel is on a reduced summer schedule.”
As for the High Holy Days, “we will all have to take a look at the time. This is not the first time there have been problems [in the U.S. or in Israel] during the [holidays.] All of our institutions will take the appropriate actions,” Morrison said.
Secure Community Network
The Seattle attack occurred last Friday afternoon when a Muslim man angry at Israel allegedly took a teenage girl hostage, forced his way through the Seattle federation’s first-floor security door, walked upstairs to the federation reception desk and began shooting.
Pam Waechter, 58, director of the federation’s community campaign, was shot and killed at the scene.
Many Jewish groups around the country reached out to local police, but in some places, police acted first.
“Tom Czaja of the Fox Point police is [regularly] in contact with us proactively,” said Paula Simon, executive director of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations and point person for security in Milwaukee’s Jewish community.
“We have an open line of communication and I’m on his regular list for getting information. All of the officials in the municipalities, including the city, have been responsive,” said Simon.
Simon is in “continuous, ongoing contact” with local and federal law enforcement officers. She provides them information about the community, such as the dates of holidays, locations of all Jewish institutions and reports of anti-Semitic incidents.
“I am on a first-name basis with many law enforcement officials in the community and I can’t say enough about how responsive they are,” Simon added.
Soon after the Seattle attack, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations put its Secure Community Network (SCN) into action for the first time since SCN was created 18 months ago. It sent out a bulletin to member organizations, urging them to implement pre-arranged security measures.
Those groups forwarded the alert to their constituents, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist houses of worship in North America.
Since last Friday, SCN’s national director, Paul Goldenberg, has been in contact with the heads of all 155 Jewish federations, Jewish camps and synagogue movements, and has been getting regular updates from the FBI and law enforcement around the country.
“I can assure you that this is not an overreaction,” said Goldenberg, who has 20 years of experience in law enforcement, including a stint as chief of the attorney general’s hate crime unit for New Jersey. “Almost every time there’s an escalation in the Middle East, there are attacks against Jewish communities in the United States and Europe.”
Malcolm Hoenlein, the Conference of Presidents’ executive vice chairman, said teleconferences were planned with groups that wanted to discuss security procedures.
Simon participated in one of those teleconferences Tuesday prior to her interview with The Chronicle.
“There are generally two key components of security, the ‘hardware’ or security devices and the ‘software,’ which includes building staff and personnel,” Simon said.
“People need to be trained to know exactly what the security procedures are and how they will be implemented. They need to know what to say when taking calls, how to report concerns and how to access first responders,” she said.
Simon said that on Wednesday, Aug. 9, representatives of local Jewish institutions will meet with law enforcement officials, federal and local, “ to share information about local concerns, issues and priorities.”
“We schedule these meetings on an ‘as needed’ basis and think that this is an appropriate time to hold one, particularly because of the Seattle incident, and the issues that always come with heightened tensions in the Middle East and also because of the renovation and construction in the community,” she said.
“Lone wolf” attacks
The day before the Seattle attack, SCN organized a teleconference with heads of security for every major Jewish federation and senior representatives from eight law enforcement agencies to discuss concerns in the wake of the escalation of violence in Israel and Lebanon.
They specifically discussed the danger of a “lone wolf” attack, which is what happened in Seattle.
Last month in Nashville, an Iraqi national was convicted of buying weapons “so he could shoot and kill Jews,” Goldenberg pointed out.
He emphasized, however, “there is no intelligence of any imminent threat,” and the Jewish community should “be vigilant” without panicking.
This report also contains information from JTA.
Loading ...