Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 6 May 2024

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

ADL Report: Antisemitism Worldwide 2023

The Annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report, published by Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), reveals that 2023 saw an increase of dozens of percentage points in the number of antisemitic incidents in Western countries in comparison to 2022. A particularly steep increase was recorded following the October 7 attacks, but the first nine months of 2023, before the war started, also witnessed a relative increase in the number of incidents in most countries with large Jewish minorities, including the United States, France, the UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico.

Analyst Comments:

As the report notes, “One of the biggest challenges presented by contemporary antisemitism is that it is expressed by the extreme right and the extreme left and that both expressions increasingly encroach on the mainstream.” The developments discussed in this Report call for contemplation – and for action. The following four global leaders in the fight against antisemitism offer their reflections and their advice in a series of essays:

• Jonathan Greenblatt
• Deborah Lyons
• Katharina von Schnubein
• Irwin Cotler

Also see: Antisemitism surging, report finds, prompting fear for future of ‘Jewish life’ in West

Bomb threat emailed to nearly two dozen Jewish sites in NYC as disturbing text revealed

Authorities are investigating a disturbing bomb threat emailed to more than two dozen synagogues and Jewish institutions in the Big Apple — and to temples upstate and on Long Island. “Hello, if you see this email just have notice of a bomb I have set inside of your building,” the email sent Saturday read, law enforcement sources told The Post. “This isn’t a threat,” it said. “I have set a bomb in your building, you have a few hours to disarm or else blood will shatter everywhere.” Sources said the threat came from a group calling itself “Terrorizers111.” The targets included 14 Manhattan synagogues and Jewish centers, five in Queens and another two in Brooklyn — with two more upstate temples and one on Long Island, the sources said. A similar threat was emailed to the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

Analyst Comments:

Below is a recent that members may want to consider given the ongoing threat environment.

What to Do: Bomb Threats: This guidance document provides an overview of bomb threats and some recommended practices to mitigate the impacts associated with these threats. While these threats can be connected to actual acts of violence in which explosives are used, they are increasingly used as a tactic to disrupt, distract, or harass locations or organizations. The operational, financial, and psychological impacts that bomb threats can have on a location, an organization, an event, a community, and personnel can be dangerous and costly, even if no explosive device is present.

Recent Campus Protest Headlines

• Campus Protests: Universities on Guard for Disruptions to Commencement After Weeks of Turmoil
• Twitch streamers become go-to news source for campus protest coverage
• WSJ: Activist Groups Trained Students for Months Before Campus Protests. Left-wing groups and veteran demonstrators provided guidance and support before rise of pro-Palestinian encampments
• Emhoff to meet with Jewish college students at White House
• NYPD Discovers Weapons and Threatening Literature Directed Toward Israelis and Americans inside Columbia Student Encampments
• Pro-Palestine Protest Disrupts U of M’s Graduation Ceremony as Schools Prep for Commencements
• MIT increases security as group rallies against pro-Palestinian encampment
• Virginia Tech students continue protesting, days after mass arrests during encampment
• CAIR Condemns UVA Police for Attacking Anti-Genocide Protesters
• CAIR-DFW Condemns U. Texas Dallas for Having 21 Peaceful Student Protesters Arrested, Questions Denial of Bond
• Hundreds in pro-Palestinian march return to protest at USF’s Tampa campus
• USF parents, students concerned about protests as graduation approaches
• Pro-Palestinian protest continue at Penn; organizers in Princeton begin hunger strike
• ‘It wasn’t equal:’ Counter-protesters overwhelm pro-Palestinian students at the University of Mississippi
• Ole Miss Students Appear to Mock Black Protester With Monkey Noises
• Faith leaders support student encampment for Palestine at UC San Diego
• West Columbia church sprayed with profanity, Pro-Palestine graffiti
• Granberg says GW unable to end ‘illegal’ protest alone
• UCLA creates high-level post to oversee campus safety after security lapses in mob attack
• CHICAGO: Ambulance Broadcasts Pro-Palestine Messages Outside Khal Chasidim [VIDEO]
• Utah’s Jewish communities spending more than ever on security amid spike in antisemitism
• Northern New Jersey Jewish Communities Face Wave of Israel-Related Antisemitism