In the United States, home to about 7.2 million Jews, the largest community outside of Israel, police departments have intensified security measures to protect Jewish and Muslim communities in light of the announcement of a possible global pro-Palestine protest expected to begin on Friday (13).
The police in the two most populous cities in the US – New York and Los Angeles – stated that they would increase patrols, especially around synagogues and Jewish community centers, although they asserted that there were no specific or credible threats.
“There is no reason to feel afraid. No one should feel the need to change their lives,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul at a press conference on Thursday (12).
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his office instructed the police to “provide additional resources for schools and places of worship to ensure they are safe and that our city continues to be a place of peace.”
Adams noted that extra police patrols were being deployed in both Jewish and Muslim communities.
The Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying that its officers would take a more prominent position in Jewish and Muslim communities “during this unimaginable period.”
In the nation’s capital, police erected fences around the Capitol complex overnight.
The concern for security in the US is due to a potential outbreak of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic violence that has been emerging following the Hamas terrorist attacks last Saturday in Israeli territory.
Protests Erupt on US College Campuses
At Columbia University (New York), on Thursday (12), two groups of hundreds of students clashed during pro-Israel and pro-Palestine demonstrations, while university officials blocked public access to the campus as a security measure.
Supporters of the Palestinians, many of whom wore masks to hide their identities, held signs that read “Free Palestine” and “To Exist is to Resist.” About 30 feet away, students supporting Israel silently held signs with faces of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
A controversy at Harvard University on Monday (9) was one of the first to make headlines. Prominent alumni criticized a joint statement from a group of students that called Israel “entirely responsible” for the war. The university’s dean later clarified that the groups did not represent the school’s position.
On Tuesday, the names and personal information of the students allegedly involved were published online, and on Wednesday, a truck displaying those details drove around the campus. Some critics of the pro-Palestine letter responded by denouncing the intimidation of the students.
Dozens of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Los Angeles, held a march for Palestine on Thursday. The group said its members had been harassed and assaulted in recent days, including while protesting against a pro-Israel rally.
At Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., SJP students chose to hold a vigil on Thursday night but refused to allow media access “due to increased harassment and threats of violence against Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and anti-Zionist students across the country.”
Source: Reuters