As the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran nears the four-week mark, the Jewish community in Baltimore is coping with safety concerns by tightening security and coordinating with law enforcement and fellow Jewish groups locally and around the country.
In the American Jewish Committee’s “The State of Antisemitism in 2024” report, AJC CEO Ted Deutch said antisemitism in America had reached a tipping point.
Conducted in fall 2024, the survey found 77% of American Jews feel “less safe as a Jewish person in the U.S.” because of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and that 35% of American Jewish college students reported experiencing antisemitism at least once during their time on campus. FBI hate crime statistics from 2024 showed that 69% of all religion-based hate crimes (and 18% of all hate crimes) were committed against Jews.
Howard Libit is executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council (BJC). In 2023, Baltimore Fishbowl interviewed Libit in the direct wake of the Oct. 7th attack. It seems events have come full circle, as again Libit spoke to Fishbowl at the start of the Iran war and how it is impacting Baltimore’s Jewish community.
AGENCY COORDINATION
Libit told Baltimore Fishbowl that the morning after the Iran war began on Feb. 28, their law enforcement partners reached out to BJC to let them know they were watching more closely. BJC is an agency that acts as the political and community relations arm of The Associated. One of the council’s many roles is to work in tandem with synagogues to ensure security.
“The intelligence folks were watching more closely for threats, but the police departments were specifically increasing their visibility and patrols around the communities with synagogues and Jewish day schools and all of that,” Libit said in a phone call on March 9. “And I’ve seen that in the week and a half since.”
The phone call took place in the wake of three shootings targeting synagogues in Toronto and an explosion at a synagogue in Liège, Belgium. The federal prosecutor’s office is investigating the explosion in Liège as intentional, rather than accidental, like might have been the case in a gas leak.
“I think whenever we have international incidents, whether it’s last summer’s 12-day campaign against Iran or the attack in Australia … or this, … I know all the institutions take the moment to think about security,” Libit said. “And ‘Are we comfortable? Do we have big events coming where we might want us to have a little extra security?’ That kind of thing.… I know we did that across the Associated system, with all of our properties, the JCCs, etc., and I’m sure many of the synagogues have as well.”
Libit said that they did not have any specific threats to which they were responding, but there was heightened awareness about the possibilities, and they are in close touch with their local, state, and federal law enforcement partners. He praised those partners and he considers BJC fortunate to have great relationships with them. Libit especially lauded those in state law enforcement, whom he called “really plugged in to the intelligence networks.”
“If they get communication from the national networks of law enforcement, they are talking to us right away and making sure we’re aware,” Libit said. “And we have ways, we have means to communicate out to all the synagogues and day schools and giving them, if there’s any kind of a heightened alert that’s needed, we have networks set up to communicate quickly.”
Baltimore Fishbowl reached out to five Baltimore-area synagogues and one local university Hillel chapter. None felt comfortable issuing a statement on the question of increased security since Feb. 28.
TEMPLE ISRAEL ATTACKED
On Thursday, March 12, a terrorist attacked a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his truck containing a homemade bomb and flammable liquid through one of the entrances of Temple Israel, striking one of the synagogue’s security officers in the process. While inside the building, he engaged in gunfire with security personnel. Ghazali died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Lebanon, Ghazali had several family members who were killed during an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, the Associated Press reported. Two of his brothers were killed, at least one of whom Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claims was a commander in Hezbollah, according to the BBC. FBI Detroit Field Office Special Agent In Charge Jennifer Runyan said the day after the attack that she was “aware of” the possibility some of Ghazali’s family members belonged to Hezbollah, according to The Detroit News.
The FBI has categorized the attack on Temple Israel as a “targeted act of violence”.
At the time of the attack, there were more than 100 preschool children in Temple Israel’s early childhood center. All of them were safely evacuated from the building and sheltered in the Shenandoah Country Club across the road from the synagogue. Only one person associated with the synagogue was injured: Danny Phillips, the security guard struck by Ghazali’s truck.
Alan Mullin is a crime prevention researcher in Detroit, Michigan. He has nearly 26 years of experience in the military, and for the last 19 of them he has also worked as a security analyst in the private sector. He told Baltimore Fishbowl that Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard created the coordinated agency response that helped ensure the safety of the faculty, staff, and students at Temple Israel.
“They actually trained on that site back in January,” Mullin said. “So, a lot of the guys responding probably had some familiarity with the building.… It helps that the Oakland County protocol is the standard nationally for responding to active shooters.”
Detroit and Baltimore are considered comparable in size, culture, and diversity, and both have strong and established Jewish communities. While security is not the sole purpose of The Associated, the organization invests a great deal of energy in keeping Baltimore’s Jewish community safe.
On the evening of Thursday, March 12, for reasons unrelated to this story, this author drove by one local Hillel and noted there were four security vehicles parked in front of the building.
“THIS IS WHY WE HIRE ARMED GUARDS”
After the attack on Temple Israel, Baltimore Fishbowl reached out again to Libit of the BJC. He said that given the potential disaster that might have taken place, he hopes people will see the value of everything Jewish communities in Baltimore and around the country invest in security measures.
“That’s why we do active shooter trainings. That’s why we do ‘Stop the Bleed’ trainings,” Libit said. “That’s why we hire armed guards. That’s why we install different security devices across our buildings, and it seems like, in this instance, it worked. The school all responded as they were trained to do, and the guards responded. And it’s tragic that we need to invest so much in all of that, but we saw the benefits after [Temple Israel].”
Libit said there is communication among the security directors across the country. He was on a Zoom call with an official in the Detroit Jewish Community who shared some of their lessons with Jewish leadership around the country.
“We can’t necessarily prevent the attack from happening,” Libit said, “but we can admit when, if it starts to happen, if we’re properly trained and properly secured, we can thwart it from having a bad impact.”
JUST KEEP GOING
Gail Simone has attended her synagogue in Baltimore County for 15 years and has not noticed a change in attendance since the war in Iran started. She spoke to Baltimore Fishbowl after the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
“When that happens, we always feel like that could be us,” Simone said, referring to the Temple Israel attack. “We have security, and we have people that carry*…. We’ve had some meetings where the whole congregation comes because they’re worried. So, we have these meetings to keep them calm. And I’m not worried. I try really hard not to be worried about it.”
Simone emphasized how much the congregants love and appreciate the security personnel, saying, “They’re family!” She said there are always people there to help, and she hopes people try not to be afraid.
“We’re trying to be like the Israelis, where you just keep going,” Simone said.
CONSTANT CONTACT
Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen is proud to be the first Jewish city council president in over 40 years. Noting that the Jewish community is not a monolith and acknowledging that many in Baltimore’s Jewish community have relatives living in Israel, Cohen said there are heightened concerns recently over antisemitism.
“We’ve seen an increase in hate crimes across the country targeting Jews,” Cohen told Baltimore Fishbowl. “In Baltimore, I have experienced antisemitic, threatening emails and social media. I think the most prominent Jewish elected officials in the country right now probably have as well.”
He recalled when he was a councilman in the city’s First District, there was a spate of swastikas popping up in Dundalk and Fells Point. He took heart, however, in the way Jews, Christians, Muslims, and people of all different faiths came together to denounce that hatred at the time.
“That’s what, to me, is really heartening about living in Baltimore and getting to represent this incredible, diverse city is that we have each other’s backs, and I felt really supported,” Cohen said.
Cohen said that he and Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, Baltimore’s other Jewish city councilmember, have many conversations about safety. Noting there is always increased police presence around city synagogues during the High Holidays, he said there is a continual “active conversation” between city officials and the police department to keep all communities safe, and particularly, the vulnerable ones.
“Councilman Schleifer and I have been in constant contact with the Baltimore City Police Department,” Cohen said. “We take all threats very seriously, but particularly in this moment where we are seeing this rise in antisemitic violence, we definitely want to make sure that our Jewish neighbors know that we have their back and that we’re going to continue to make sure that we’re keeping everybody safe.”
Cohen has not noticed anything heightened or specific since the war started in Iran, and said in reality, many in the Jewish community have been on edge since Oct. 7, 2023. Calling the general climate “really challenging,” he noted the personal nature for many who have relatives either serving or living in Israel.
“There’s just a heightened awareness of the precarity of global events right now, and particularly again, when it comes to the Baltimore context, we are committed to keeping all of our neighbors safe and just making sure everybody is treated with respect and dignity, and that every single Baltimorean, reasonable Jewish Baltimorean, knows that we’re there for them,” Cohen said.
*Maryland is a “Handgun Wear and Carry” or “concealed carry” state for people who hold the proper permits. Simone’s synagogue declined comment on their security measures.
