Skip to content
CAM-logo-2x
  • About
  • News
    • U.S.
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • JAHM
    • Interviews
    • More
      • Analysis
      • Government
      • Humanity
      • Online
      • Spotlight
      • Videos
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • Donate
Menu
  • About
  • News
    • U.S.
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • JAHM
    • Interviews
    • More
      • Analysis
      • Government
      • Humanity
      • Online
      • Spotlight
      • Videos
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • Donate

Studies & Reports

  • All
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • JAHM
  • Interviews
  • MORE
    • Analysis
    • Government
    • Humanity
    • Online
    • Spotlight
    • Videos
Menu
  • All
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • JAHM
  • Interviews
  • MORE
    • Analysis
    • Government
    • Humanity
    • Online
    • Spotlight
    • Videos

Growing Threats to Synagogues Predated Texas Attack, CAM Data Shows, With 34 Incidents in Recent Months

  • January 27, 2022
Share Tweet Share Follow Follow Email Print

The hostage-taking incident at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, earlier this month drew renewed attention to the growing threats faced by Jewish institutions worldwide, and particularly in the United States.

Even before the Colleyville attack, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Information Hub was actively monitoring this trend, and in the past three months it has tracked 34 media reports of incidents globally in which synagogues and Jewish centers were targeted, including 22 in the U.S. alone (65% of total).

In Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31, a man motivated by neo-Nazi ideology set fire to the city’s Congregation Beth Israel, causing $25,000 worth of damage. He was arrested and now faces a federal arson charge.

A firefighter is seen at Congregation Beth Israel, in Austin, Texas.

 

Also in Texas, an Amarillo man was indicted in mid-December for threatening to murder three Chabad rabbis.

In St. Louis, Missouri, on Nov. 5, a man called the FBI three times threatening to blow up the Central Reform Congregation, saying of Jews, “I hate them with rage.” He was arrested and ordered held pending trial.

In Columbus, Ohio, rocks were thrown at Congregation Ahavas Sholom on Nov. 4. And in Youngstown, Ohio, a bomb threat was emailed to the city’s Jewish Community Center on Nov. 15.

At the end of November, in Kansas City, Missouri, the Chabad on the Plaza building was vandalized by nighttime intruders, incurring serious damage.

The ransacked Chabad on the Plaza, in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

Around the same time, antisemitic graffiti was found scrawled on a wall outside Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois.

On Dec. 5, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, a sticker bearing a Nazi swastika and the words “We Are Everywhere” was found at Adath Emanu-El Synagogue. Two weeks later, a jogger discovered three swastikas drawn on a sidewalk outside B’nai Shalom Temple in West Orange, New, Jersey.

The sticker found at Adath Emanu-El Synagogue, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

 

In Miami Beach, Florida, the door of Temple Emanu-El was defaced with a swastika in early December. This came about a week after a sign reading “The Goyim Know” was hung outside the Homestead Jewish Center in South Florida.

In Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 14, police responded to the scene after an antisemitic letter and a vial containing an unknown substance were found near Congregation Mogen David, in the city’s Pico-Robertson neighborhood.

The following week, antisemitic posters were plastered in LA’s Fairfax neighborhood, including one outside a synagogue.

In late December, Kol Ami Synagogue in Tuscon, Arizona, was vandalized, with multiple windows shattered.

The concerning phenomenon is not limited to the U.S., with similar incidents reported in Canada, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Serbia, and Australia, since the fall.

A Nazi flag is seen flying from an apartment window in Brisbane, Australia.

 

In an interview with CAM, Rabbi Alan Litwak — from Temple Sinai of North Dade in the Miami area — said, “As our country increasingly becomes more binary and individuals are emboldened by politicians, there is a greater sense that antisemitism is rearing its ugly head in the public square as well as traditional targets such as synagogues, Jewish community centers, and Jewish organizations.”

Rabbi Alan Litwak of Temple Sinai of North Dade.

 

Following the Colleyville incident, there has been a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to ensure that the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) is adequately funded. NSGP funding is meant to support target hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities by nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of terrorist attack.

A letter sent last week to the Senate Appropriations Committee by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), James Lankford (R-OK), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said, “As you finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, we respectfully ask you to fund NSGP at an appropriate funding amount that reflects the increased threat level to the nonprofit sector.”

“This weekend, another attack occurred on a faith-based institution, in what the FBI is calling a ‘terrorism-related’ matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted,” it noted. “This attack underscores how extremists pose a threat to the Jewish community and to other religious, racial, and ethnic groups.”

Rabbi Litwak commented, “Synagogues which are struggling financially are increasingly being forced to make difficult decisions between mission-based programming and security personnel. Some governmental help to not only harden our institutions but provide for the ongoing need for security personnel would be a welcome relief.”

“Antisemitism is a reflection of the larger challenge within our society that does not allow for differences to be expressed or embraced,” Rabbi Litwak went on to say. “At the same time as we expect our local and national agencies to provide the security coverage that our institutions need, we also need our leaders to model a sense of openness and acceptance. Division and hatred need to be openly condemned.”

For more information on CAM’s antisemitism incidents data, which is collected on a weekly basis, visit: combatantisemitism.org/newsletters

read more

Surge of Antisemitic Hatred Sweeps Across Globe After Hamas Oct. 7 Massacre

November 10, 2023

Social Media Review Exposes Pro-Hamas Bias of International Human Rights Organizations

October 17, 2023

Nearly 90% of CAM Social Media Poll Respondents Say Antisemitism On Rise in US

October 4, 2023

More News

Texas Man Who Set Fire to Austin Synagogue Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail

December 4, 2023

Representatives of 60 Cities to Participate in 2023 European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Dortmund, Germany

November 28, 2023

CAM Urges Washington Post to Stop Quoting Hamas on Issue of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

November 20, 2023

Municipal Leaders From More Than 50 Cities Presented With Ten-Step Action Plan at 2023 North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Fort Lauderdale

November 17, 2023

‘As Long as We Stand Together, We Will Win’: Nearly 300,000 Attend ‘March for Israel’ in Washington, DC

November 14, 2023

Surge of Antisemitic Hatred Sweeps Across Globe After Hamas Oct. 7 Massacre

November 10, 2023

American Jewish Organizations Announce Nov. 14 March for Israel on National Mall in DC

November 7, 2023

Jewish Man Dies After Being Struck in Head by Anti-Israel Demonstrator Near Los Angeles

November 6, 2023

‘Never Again Is Now!’: Antisemitism Special Envoys From Across Globe Call for Action Against Rising Jew-Hatred

November 6, 2023

As Antisemitism Wave Sweeps Over World, Brazilian Metropolis Rio de Janeiro Adopts IHRA Definition With CAM Support

November 3, 2023
CAM-logo-2x
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
Facebook-f Instagram X-twitter(1) Linkedin-in Youtube Tiktok
PRIVACY POLICY

20231121-GiveButter202311-givebutter-mobile

X