As Jews in some northern New Jersey communities made their way to synagogue last Shabbat, the scene was slightly different from the typical day of rest. Extra police cars were on patrol near synagogues. At Bnei Yeshurun in Teaneck, a new buzzer system had been installed. And at Ahavath Torah in Englewood, a phalanx of security guards stood sentry.
The flurry of commentary about an outbreak of hostilities between Iran and the United States or Israel has overlooked a critical issue — the security implications for the American Jewish community. Any military conflict could not only transform the geopolitical situation in the Middle East but also directly affect our own institutions and community here in the United States.
Israel Police have been holding talks with Israeli Arab representatives in bid to diffuse tensions ahead of Yom Kippur, after the burning of an Upper-Galilee mosque earlier this week. Police hope that calm will be restored in time for Yom Kippur on Saturday.
If the Palestinians don’t pull back from their statehood push, congressional cuts in aid are inevitable, U.S. lawmakers say. Just how comprehensive such cuts will be, however, could end up depending on Israel’s stance on the issue.
Tension in the Middle East encompasses lots more than the security of Israel’s borders. That tension is also linked inextricably to oil production and consumption within Israel and its Arab neighboring nations.
On Aug. 30, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) held its annual security meeting at its Los Angeles headquarters to advise local Jewish leaders on possible threats facing the community in advance of the High Holy Days.
Israel\’s Security Cabinet ordered the Israel Defense Forces to prevent the upcoming flotilla to Gaza from reaching the coastal strip.\n
For years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many Americans waited in fear for the next strike by al-Qaida on U.S. soil. But the ensuing decade has seen no more major terrorist attacks in the United States. Now, with the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan by U.S. forces, the question many American Jews are considering is whether the liquidation of al-Qaida’s leader makes a follow-up attack more or less likely, and whether Jews could be a target.
Work to change the route of the security fence near the Palestinian village of Bil\’in, the site of weekly protests, is nearly complete. The move, which will place more land under Palestinian control, will be completed in two months, the Israeli army said Wednesday. Israel\’s Supreme Court had ordered the move nearly four years ago.
The recent Middle East turmoil has sharpened Israeli needs for tangible security guarantees in exchange for concessions to the Palestinians, Dennis Ross said. Ross, President Obama’s top Middle East adviser, told the Anti-Defamation League’s annual leadership conference in Washington on Monday that security guarantees sought by Israel toward a peace deal with the Palestinians were critical, “particularly during a time of change.”
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