Jewish Centers Bolster Security
By Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Shawntaye Hopkins
Boston Globe
Local Jewish centers have increased security in response to a fatal attack Friday at a Jewish charity in Seattle, and area Muslim community leaders condemned the rampage, which left one woman dead and five others injured.
"We're very alarmed," said Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. "We can hope and pray this was an isolated incident, but we're planning to protect Jewish institutions. We know we need to be vigilant."
Five Jewish agencies housed at a downtown building on High Street hired a Boston police officer to guard the site today The Boston Anti-Defamation League sent an e-mail advisory Saturday to Jewish community centers and synagogues encouraging groups to review security policies and to contact police if they see suspicious behavior.
Members of the Muslim community -- locally and nationally -- have condemned the attack at the center, in which a gunman identified himself as a Muslim American who was angry at Israel, then opened fire. A suspect is in custody in Seattle in the case.
Saeed Shahzad, a spokesman for the Quincy-based Islamic Center of New England, expressed condolences to victims of the Seattle rampage, which he called a hate crime. He urged law enforcement to increase vigilance at local Islamic and Jewish centers in New England now, while emotions are high.
"We condemn this incident," he said. "And we will stand with our Jewish friends to help them in this difficult time."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement Saturday, signed by representatives of the Seattle Muslim community, saying, "The American Muslim and Jewish communities must do whatever is within their power" to prevent the Middle East conflict "from being transplanted to this country."
The Seattle shooting brought the escalating conflict in the Middle East home for many in both Boston religious communities. Alan Ronkin, Deputy Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, worked at the Seattle Federation for seven years and knew Pam Waechter, the 58-year-old woman who died in the shooting.
Waechter, whom Ronkin described as warm and engaging, converted to Judaism after marrying a Jew and was in charge of outreach at the federation, he said.
"I'm still in a state of shock and disbelief," Ronkin said. "She wanted to be inclusive. It was important to her to widen the circle. To me, that's one of the most jarring pieces -- that someone who embraced Judaism with such zeal and such warmth would be murdered because she was a Jew."
The Seattle shooting was also on the minds of a group of 30 protesters who demonstrated outside the State House yesterday. They were calling for an immediate cease-fire after an Israeli air strike in the Lebanese town of Qana killed a number of children.
One protester, Trelawney Grenfell, a Boston University graduate student, said a cease-fire might help "prevent shootings like this one."
