Jewish in Seattle

[The Blue Flower]

The head of the local Anti-Defamation League has been on the media this afternoon and evening telling Jews to stay away from services or other gatherings--just in case.

I feel sick. I've been in the Federation building and worked with people there. I was downtown this afternoon when it happened.

[Howardx]

1. long time seattle resident here

thats just sad, thats not seattle at all.

[yewberry]

2. There will be police protection

at many services tonight, according to the news.

I was downtown, but luckily, I caught a bus at four o'clock. I work with a Jewish organization, too, and the community is going to be reeling.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

3. I don't live in Seattle, but I am going to Torah study in the morning.

I wonder why they think that might not be a good idea?

[oberliner]

4. stay away from services on Shabbat?

:cry:

[SeattleGirl]

12. I know, oberliner

I wonder if the shooter picked Shabbat on purpose, of if he just happened to snap on this particular day of the week.

[oberliner]

17. Lord help us when the high holidays roll around

Hopefully that won't "inspire" any other nut-jobs.

[spindrifter]

5. Police have announced they are "monitoring" area

synagogues in Seattle.

[acmejack]

6. It's not supposed to be America at all.

An American should not have to worry about being gunned down solely due to his or her religion or ethnic background. I'm sorry it happened in the beautiful city of Seattle, but I in actuality am sorry it happened anywhere. The last days have been trying enough without this, it was the last thing we needed to further complicate things.

[bdamomma]

18. this was a terrible thing

your're right though, no one religion should be singled out, this is not America is right, how many more incidents are we going to see like this unfound around the US. Seattle, it's a beautiful place.

[butterfly77]

41. Remember we are fighting them over there so

that we don't have to fight them over here.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

7. Do you have a link or something you can provide? n/t

[Suich]

9. Try this one:

http://www.komotv.com/

[Freedom_from_Chains]

10. Jeez, I have not been watching the news this afternoon and

was totally not aware of this. However I would like to point out that there was a stabbing at a grocery store in in Memphis the other day and I inquired on a thread if the store was Jewish owned. I asked the question because of the name and because I have a concern as to a potential backlash here against Jews, because we have enough of our own crazies here that we should be worried about.

Because of asking such I was accused of all kinds of things from being anti-semantic to being a troll from Freerepublic, but this is exactly the kind of thing I was worried about.

I will be looking forward to the apologies from the DU'ers that made such vitriolic accusations about me but I won't be holding my breath until I get them.

[DemFromMem]

19. The Memphis stabbings were not politically motivated

A mentally ill young man snapped.

The store was a mega super-market that's part of a regional chain.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

23. But that was not completely clear at the time the event was happening

[DemFromMem]

29. Not the way I saw it

The story was covered by local news here in Memphis and no one even hinted there might be a political element. at Employees interviewed live during a "breaking news" interuption made it pretty clear that the employee was fired the day before and we assumed (correctly) that this was the typical "going postal."

[Freedom_from_Chains]

11. Why is this not on any of the major news channels or cnn.com?

[Suich]

13. It happened too late on a Friday?

:shrug:

[Freedom_from_Chains]

14. Come on, this is the age of instantaneous communication. n/t

[Suich]

16. I meant it was too late for the 5:00 or 6:00 news. n/t

[Freedom_from_Chains]

24. Oh, I have been watching cable and have not seen a thing

about this as of 9:30

[DemFromMem]

30. Certainly not being covered as a major hate crime

Six people are shot in a hate crime and CNN barely is covering the story.

[spindrifter]

15. cnn.com has covered this since very early in

the incident. In fact, I checked cnn before I left work, but they had video and we can't access video there.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/28/seattle.shooting.ap/index.html

[spindrifter]

20. Haaretz also has coverage:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744017.html

[Suich]

8. I'm watching KIRO 7 and they were just at a synagogue in

Bellevue, which had a bunch of police there. SPD is going to provide security on this side of the pond.

[Tom Joad]

21. Condolences to those hurt and to the loved ones of the woman

killed in that senseless violence.
Condolences also to the families of those killed by U.S. weaponry in Lebanon and Gaza and Iraq.

Let's all work to stop the violence.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

25. Agree with that, I got caught up in this and forgot to think about

those directly affected.

[icymist]

22. This is all so sad.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I can't believe that this is all happening in Seattle, what used to be one of the hippist cities in the world.

[dsc]

26. Very sad and scary

I feel pretty bad about the various Coulter threads I posted today given that there are so much more serious threats out there. I hope things are OK for you.

[Tom Joad]

27. I lived not far away from where Alex Odeh was brutally murdered.

This is just as reprehensible.
Alex Odeh was an Arab-American that worked for the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee or ADC.

[oberliner]

28. JDL are some serious sickos

Thankfully Jewish-Americans and Arab-Americans get along pretty well for the most part.

The extremists on each side are an embarrassment and a disgrace.

[Tom Joad]

33. We have some JDL fans who openly post here at DU, so be warned.

[cali]

31. Ah, yes

the sadly inevitable tit for tat.

[dsc]

35. In the wake of 9/11 Cleveland had a Mosque attacked

thankfully no one was killed. Once people get to America they need to leave the ME stuff in the ME regardless of which side.

[cally]

32. Should we be worried about the synagogues in our own community?

I know there is always a general threat, but I'm wondering if we should think about organizing to protect worshipers at most synagogues. Before I get flamed, I've also worried about about the local mosque.

[oberliner]

34. A scary thought

Synagogues having to organize to protect worshipers. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

[KharmaTrain]

36. Playing Up The "Arab" Angle

From one who is a member of a synagogue where we have to have security guards present on the high holidays and spend a good portion of our budget for a private security services, yes, this is very scary because this isn't isolated or uncommon. Attacks on synagogues have been on the rise for the past decade. Jewish Anti-semetism (as opposed to Arab Anti-semitism) lives very strongly in this country...and even manifests itself here on DU.

I'm not concerned about some guy wearing a turban blowing up my synagogue...but some nice white xtian kid, like the ones we've caught over the years...the ones who believe the Jews killed Jesus and now are the cause of America's troubles in the Middle East (it's all Israel's fault...none for the large oil conglomerates). It wasn't an Arab that went riding around the Rogers Park area of Chicago shooting at people on their way to synagogue...it was a disciple of a fundie xtian nutcase (Matthew Hale) who still has plenty of followers out there.

Remember, the worst case of American terrorism wasn't done by 19 Arabs in an airplane, but one nice white xtian kid in a rental van loaded with explosive in Oklahoma City...but then, of course, we never look at that part of our society...that would hurt both Pentagon recruiting and GOOP voter drives.

[H2O Man]

37. The SPLC has

statistics that document the amount of hate crimes that various American citizens face. It is a sad fact that Jewish Americans are confronted by the threat of violence from a significant range of hateful people.

[KharmaTrain]

38. If You're A "Minority" Somebody Hates You

Some wise words I remember someone say when I was young...and it applies here. I don't want to single Jews out as any black who attempts to drive a nice looking car in my neighborhood is begging for a local cop to pull them over or someone with a Spanish accent is automatically viewed as being an "illegal"...and that's just in my little "pleasant valley sunday" neighborhood.

The SPLC has done some great work in not just keeping track of these hate groups (and not just Jewish), but finding ways of shutting them down through lawsuits and other tactics that hit these goons in their pocketbooks.

Sadly, we're now a nation based on hate and fear, not hope and inclusion.

Cheers...

:hi:

[H2O Man]

39. Exactly.

One of the reasons that I am thinking about going through the SPLC reports is because they show that the hatred and violence directed at Jewish citizens is part and parcel of the same disease that threatens all of our communities. I come from a large family, with members from a wide range of ethnic and religious backgrounds. I am no more, or no less, okay with any of them being the victim of the increasing hatred and violence, because of their ethnic or religious identity. The SPLC makes it clear that we are all in this together.

[butterfly77]

42. Thanks bush

[DemFromMem]

40. Go Away - You know who you are

Geez, we can't even grieve for a murdered innocent in our own American Jewish community in a small thread at DU without having to here the comments of the "usual suspects" bashing Israel or hinting that the five shot Seattle women had it coming. Go back to your anti-Israel rants at the I/P forum, will ya? We're not interested in hearing from you just now.

[Behind the Aegis]

43. .

:applause:
:yourock: