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

[lovuian]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746681.html

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.

more...

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. No folks it is NOT my imagination when I say that

what was just under the surface is once again becoming accepted... Seattle was but a preview of comming atractions

[BeHereNow]

2. Blowback, courtesy of the Neocon backed

IDF aggression in the ME.
So many little Hitlers and so many targets!
It's going to get real ugly, real fast.
BHN

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Nah, for this virulent antisemitism to get this bad this fast

it had to be there dormant... sorry, not buying what you are selling

[BeHereNow]

4. You didn't understand what I said, methinks.

This country is brimming with hate mongers,
just waiting for their chance to act out their
moments of self aggrandizing beliefs.
Personally, I think we are about to see hate crimes
committed by all sorts of mini-hilters against
all sorts of people.
We agree in the thinking that it has been lying dormant.
I do not happen to think it is limited to anti-semitism.
I see it between MANY groups of people-
and I see an abundent supply of mini-hitlers
just waiting for their catalyst to justify violence
against those they feel superior to.

BHN

[Horse with no Name]

6. Agree 100%

Hate begets hate.
The media and this administration have profiled Muslims and targeted them for hate. They have profiled blacks and targeted them for hate. They have profiled gays and targeted them for hate, et al.
Sad thing when you breed hate--there is always someone on the other side who will hate you back.
"Saepe intereunt aliis meditantes necem"
"Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves"...Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia)

[BeHereNow]

8. Great quote HWNN.

Thanks for expressing that you see what I see.
Sometimes I think I am the only one.

Untimately, I hold the neocons responsible
for removing the barriers of a civilized society.
Things that before people only felt free to think, they now
feel free to do.

Time to head for the hills.
Between the loss of social order and
the returning trained to kill-traumatized US troops,
becoming a recluse looks better and better to me.

BHN

[Horse with no Name]

10. Again I agree

:)
I have wanted to move to a larger area because I don't like where I am.
For all the bad points, I can leave my keys in my car in my driveway and I can leave my doors unlocked. The only murders in this town are government officials, and there doesn't seem to be random violence.
It is starting to look better to me for those reasons.
The hate has been unleashed.
I fully expect to see a time in the very near future that going to the mall or a crowded sports event will be akin to taking your life in your own hands.

[BeHereNow]

15. STAY where you are! You can leave your keys in your car?

Hell, I can't even leave my car on the street-
someone tried to siphon my gas the other night,
my trusty dog scared them off...yay DOG!

Never take being able to see the stars at night for granted.
The only stars I see are assholes like Mel Gibson.

I can't wait to get out of Los Angeles.
I have a friend with a ranch in Utah in the middle of no where
and it looks better and better to me as time goes on.

I prefer riding a horse to driving on a freeway anyday.
And I think with the way things are going, we may all
be living like the Amish anyday now.

BHN

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AlienGirl]

20. "Hate you back"? But it's not being directed at the admin. and media

This hate is being directed at innocent people, not at the Bushies or Fox News. The targets of this hatred have not "plotted the destruction of others"; they are guilty only of having been openly Jewish, in public.

Tucker

[Horse with no Name]

24. I guess I wasn't clear--exactly

When you make hate of any sort fashionable and/or acceptable, it empowers certain groups of people to hate unfettered.
Generally the recipients of the hate ARE innocent people whose only crime is to be of a certain belief system or orientation that the hater hates.
But that is enough of a crime for haters because they have an administration that is the poster child for their hate crimes.
It is always the innocent that suffer because they are the most vulnerable.
Bush cabal surrounds themselves with men with guns--they are unlikely targets. However, the average Jewish citizen or the Muslim citizen or the African American citizen have no reason to expect someone to hate them--they've done nothing to deserve it. But if you ask anyone of these origins, my guess is that many live in a fear that those of us who are white Christians have never experienced and could never fully understand.

[malaise]

26. Lovely quote

As Marley said 'if you dig one ditch you'd better dig two, one for your brother and one for you'.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. my bad

in effect I was talking to a friend of mine over email... she is kurd.

And what we both agreed is that they need to find a way to suspend constitution and elections... and they are quickly running out of time and methods

Now if you have an attack on the Seattle synagogue, not much stir... muslim community center, ok... African American center, nope

Now imagine the following scenario... a krystal nacht style event in La Jolla, California, with plenty of riots, and swastikas, staged by... Arabs... the enemy of the week

You got your excuse and I think they are letting things get to this point for a reason... and I also fear they will use that for the ...
conflict of civilizations, declare martial law and get undesiarables (whatever happens to be the definion of the day) into internment camps.

Yep, what nightmares are made off... why I have my passport ready now, and my bribe money.

If foks are smart they will remember that after 9.11, to use this community, it was Jews protecting the Muslim community center, from the crazies...

[BeHereNow]

11. Not a "bad" just a misunderstanding

We are talking about the same thing.
I don't know if leaving the country is going to
do us any good at this point though...
I seriously looked into it for years and my
conclusion is that due to technology
and what Leonard Cohen referred to as
"absolute control over every living soul"
I don't know if it is feasible and may if anything,
put you on a radar you don't want to be on.

The fuckers can freeze your assets from any where
in the world and track you by your bank transactions.

I am thinking more of staying here at this point and
simply slowly getting off the grid whilst preparing to
live self sufficiently- if for no other reason, to
prepare a way of life for my daughter who will
face the consequences of global warming in her lifetime,
never mind the mini hitlers popping up all over.

BHN

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. It is the mini hitlers that worry me

it is that special "gift" from being the daugher of a holocaust survivor... (or any other genocide) alarms have been going off for months, years, and I even said at one point, we need to leave, but alas I know something wicked cometh this way

[manic expression]

13. One thing you don't remember

is that Muslims have been working with Jewish communities after anti-semitic attacks. Don't be so naive as to think of Muslims in such a misled manner.

[countmyvote4real]

5. Umm. you didn't say what color that alert is supposed to be.

Just saying. Freak, duct tape or BAU?

[Porcupine]

9. Terra! Terra! Terra! Fear, fire, foe!!! Send more arms to Israel

Sorry, but I'm not buying THAT snake oil. This is not a wave of violence against american jews. This is a few not very committed crackpots blowing off steam in the face of some very disturbing images.

American Jews are not to blame for the actions of the state of Israel except where they individually endorse those actions. The actions of the state of Israel are not to blame for the responses of isolated american whackos.

Everybody calm down and open another bag of cheesie puffs already.

[rockymountaindem]

12. Yeah, murder and arson are just "letting off steam"

I mean, I burn down like a small town every week, with all this stress I'm under :sarcasm:

[manic expression]

14. Ever consider

joining the IDF?

[rockymountaindem]

19. No, I'm an American

Though I support Israel, I'm an American first, and I don't think I could ever feel at home anywhere else.

[The Stranger]

32. You must not be keeping up with the massacre and genocide going on.

It is a wholesale murder of a nation, I believe, is how Chomsky describes it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. You realize of course that it is not only the US

but Italy, Mexico and other places. The only reason why this is in the news is... drum roll... the US has the largest Jewish population in the Diaspora

[Balbus]

21. No one is asking you to buy it...

Unless you're an American Jew, that is. But I have a feeling you're not so don't let this worry you. A few Jews get blown away here and there but as long as your cheesie puffs are safe - that's what matters.

[Porcupine]

23. A few Everybodies get blown away here and there.....

because they are hmong or latino or black or white in the wrong neighborhood.
Because cops are jittery or neighbors are paranoid. Because the crank dealer across the street sampled a bit too much.

It's not national news.

Murder should be vigourously prosecuted as well as arson. BTW, I see a fair amount of arson in my little college town; last month they burnt down a Starbucks under construction. Not national news.

Promoting fear and war is what's happening here.

[The Stranger]

33. There are hundreds of Lebanese being "blown away."

For no reason whatsoever. Ever think about that?

[Mr_Spock]

22. This situation is getting really sticky

On the one hand I am pissed at Israel for overreacting to this situation.

On the other hand, I don't want to have to explain to my children what anti-Semitism is (or worse) :(

[Horse with no Name]

25. How profound

You hit the nail on the head..."I don't want to have to explain to my children what anti-Semitism is"
Preach on because that is where the cycle of hate stops--when the next generation doesn't know it ever existed.

[chimpymustgo]

29. The murder and displacement of thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese?

That's a damn tough one to explain to kids too, isn't it?

[Horse with no Name]

30. Absolutely

I don't discount any of the suffering of any of the people.
The people that are affected greatest are the people with the least to do with this situation.
I agree with the OP that I, too, would like to not have to explain to my grandchildren what anti-semitism is, or what racial profiling is, or any other form of bigotry is.
I only have to do it with my children because it exists--I would like a world where none of it exists.

[Mr_Spock]

34. It's an interesting situation for me...

Mom on my side is Armenian and we have Armenian relatives in Lebanon. It's even more bizzare since Armenians are Christian.

Mom on her side is Jewish & that makes my kids Jewish - all the more reason I am trying to avoid having them traumatized by the recent spate of anti-Semitism.

[theHandpuppet]

27. Listen up, folks!

There have been a rash of unsolved hate crimes going on in the Baltimore area for some time now. The targets have been mostly synagogues and churches with predominantly black congregations. The only reason you haven't heard about them is because the MSM wasn't interested. They're only interested NOW because the current bloody conflict in the ME sells advertizing space or gets people to tune in to their latest "all war, all the time" programs.

Furthermore, where was the interest in said hate crimes when I posted no fewer than THREE THREADS on this subject earlier this year? I'll tell you what happened to them -- they sank like stones. Seems the MSM aren't the only ones who weren't interested.

Here are the threads in question, which I pulled from my journal. Note the first one included reports of a rash of hate crimes aimed at the Jewish community:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x107058
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x317917
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x137418

The slimebags who attacked Baltimore's Hebrew University didn't just pop up out of nowhere. They've BEEN there all along and what I want to know is, why the lack of interest -- lack of interest by the public, by the MSM, by DU, by the law enforcement officials who are supposed to be investigating these hate crimes?

I have to question those who say this particular attack in Baltimore just came out of the blue or suddenly arose as a result of what's happening between Lebanon and Israel. There is something very nasty going on in Maryland and it's called domestic terrorism. Anyone find it curious that a Maryland military base near Baltimore was also the source for the anthrax attacks?

[Horse with no Name]

28. Something I thought was very strange about Maryland as well

When most of the East Coast lost military and civilian jobs due to BRAC 2005, Maryland gained over 9000 civilian jobs as well as 1851 contractor jobs.
There was research done here at the time of the base closings that suggested that these jobs were given as payback--most blue states lost jobs while red states gained, vulnerable Republicans in Congress gained jobs while vulnerable Democrats lost jobs.
I tried to do a search on this but was unsuccessful, however, it was "odd" that Maryland stood out.

http://www.dod.mil/brac/pdf/Appendix_C_FinalUpdated.pdf

[theHandpuppet]

31. See? It didn't take long to stop this discussion did it...

This is what I'm talking about, Horse with no Name. The minute I brought up the matter of all those other Baltimore-area hate crimes with links to article after article this thread began sinking like a stone. The only thing that gets attention is a sensationalist headline. Just make a note of what we've been discussing about the pattern of hate crimes and domestic terrorism in and around Montgomery County Maryland, especially since we're talking about an area only about 40 miles from D.C. and where many folks not only commute to jobs for the govt but where there are also some very startegic military bases.

[treestar]

35. US Arabs would understand, especially since 911