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(New York Jewish Week) — Photographs had been fired at Temple Israel in Albany on Thursday, the primary evening of Hanukkah, as U.S. Jews grapple with a surge in antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel and the Israeli navy marketing campaign in Gaza.
There have been no accidents within the capturing on the premises of the Conservative synagogue in New York’s capital, Gov. Kathy Hochul stated in a press release, including that she had spoken with the congregation’s rabbi. She stated in a press briefing, nonetheless, that the synagogue has an on-site early studying heart, “with at the least two dozen kids, preschoolers, who had been on the premises.” She added that the power went into lockdown however that every one kids have been launched safely to their mother and father.
A 28-year-old male is in custody, stated Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small.
The suspect shouted “Free Palestine” throughout the incident, Albany’s Instances Union reported, citing police and one other supply.
Hochul stated she had directed the New York State Police and the state’s nationwide guard to be on excessive alert and step up patrols of at-risk websites for Hanukkah, akin to synagogues, yeshivas and neighborhood facilities all through the state — together with New York Metropolis, which is residence to the most important Jewish inhabitants in the USA.
“Any act of antisemitism is unacceptable, and undermining public security at a synagogue on the primary evening of Hanukkah is much more deplorable,” Hochul stated. “We reject hate, antisemitism and violence in all kinds.”
Hochul visited the synagogue on Oct. 7 in a present of solidarity amid Hamas’ assault.
The governor stated that, following Thursday’s incident, she contacted Temple Israel’s Rabbi Wendy Love Anderson, and “assured her that the state of New York will do every thing attainable to revive the sense of safety her congregation wants presently,” including that she plans to attend Shabbat companies there this Friday night.
Within the briefing, Hochul famous that the synagogue had been one in all a number of focused with bomb threats in September.
There was no speedy public touch upon the incident from the synagogue or the Albany police division.
Legislation enforcement and Jewish neighborhood safety teams have reported a surge in antisemitism because the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas warfare.
In New York Metropolis, the NYPD reported 62 antisemitic hate crimes final month and 69 assaults in October, a steep improve. Anti-Jewish incidents made up 65% of all hate crimes reported to police final month. There isn’t a comparable knowledge out there for antisemitic hate crimes in upstate New York.
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Synagogues and different Jewish establishments have been focused within the wave of hate crimes. On Friday, bomb threats had been made towards 15 synagogues in New York State, together with 5 in upstate areas.
The threats had been made as a part of a marketing campaign meant to interrupt synagogue operations by forcing legislation enforcement to go to a location, and there didn’t seem like any precise hazard to the targets, stated the director of the Jewish safety group the Group Safety Initiative, Mitch Silber.
“The underside line is that this: The protection of Jewish New Yorkers is non-negotiable,” Hochul stated within the briefing. “Each act, whether or not it’s verbal or bodily, any act of antisemitism is unacceptable, and undermining the general public security at our synagogue, on the primary evening of Hanukkah, is much more deplorable.”
“I remind everybody: As New Yorkers, this isn’t who we’re. This should cease, ” she added. “We reject hate, antisemitism, Islamophobia. All hate crimes should cease, and all violence in each kind should stop. We now have no tolerance for these acts of evil which have now permeated our society.”
Forward of questions, the briefing concluded with the lighting of Hanukkah candles, led by Eva Wyner, the state’s deputy director of Jewish affairs.
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