Reply #11: We had more anti-Semitic attacks in America than Holland had

[IndianaGreen]

U.S. Jews on 'heightened alert' as crisis escalates

BALTIMORE - Last Thursday, in the midst of a heat wave, the tranquility of the city's Jewish community and its institutions was shattered by a single beer bottle, which was filled with rags and gasoline and then thrown at a side door of Joseph Meyerhoff Library. Baltimore Hebrew University was awakened from its summer slumber by the sound of the bottle breaking on the metal door of the library and the police sirens that followed. The library sustained very minor damage, estimated at about $200.

On Friday, Jewish life in Baltimore appeared to be business as usual, but nevertheless something was different. Park Heights Blvd., which extends from the center of the city northward, is the address of many Jewish institutions. The community is vibrant and represents the full range of Jewish expression. Arthur Abramson of the Baltimore Jewish Council was appointed official community spokesperson on the incident. He explained that the community was aware of the constant need to protect its institutions and that, in times of crisis in the Middle East, this need increases.

Gil Kleiner, executive director of the Conservative synagogue Beth El Congregation of Baltimore told Haaretz before the Sabbath that Shabbat prayers would take place in a state of "heightened alert," but he repeatedly stressed that the Molotov cocktail was a lone incident and not part of a trend. Many signs point to the amateur nature of the attack, perhaps on the part of neighborhood teens who have had run-ins with the community in the past.

Still, the firebomb came just one week after the assault on Jewish Federation offices on the other side of the continent, in Seattle. Pam Waechter was killed and several people were injured when Naveed Afzal Haq, a Muslim-American with a history of mental illness, opened fire on them. Since then, there have been other disturbing incidents: an incendiary bottle was thrown in Queens and vandalism was reported in Brooklyn, Miami and Chicago. Arab-Americans demonstrating in Detroit carried effigies of Hassan Nasrallah on their shoulders, and the FBI said that security must be heightened in the area.

Kleiner emphasizes that the Jewish community is worried, but not frightened. But Judith Rowland, cantor of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, which decided to install a buzzer system to control entry, confirms that the worry is sufficient to warrant heightened awareness.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=746942&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1