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NYC synagogues boost security as DHS shutdown stalls federal funding
(New York Jewish Week) — When an attacker drove into Temple Israel in suburban Detroit last week, the synagogue’s security guards were ready to engage him. Soon after, the attacker was dead — with no serious injuries to anyone else.
But that was at the biggest congregation in the United States, with a large staff of full-time security officers — something few synagogues can muster.
Now, smaller congregations are scrambling to fortify themselves during what an official for the Secure Community Network, a national Jewish-run nonprofit, called “the most elevated and complex threat environment” in recent history.
In New York City, some are adding security guards through a new program that will cover additional labor costs, at least for a short time — while bemoaning a lack of federal funding due to a Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Funding for the “Short-Term Security Guard Reimbursement Program” is coming from the Community Security Initiative, the UJA-Federation of New York and “key donors,” according to CSI’s CEO Mitchell Silber. It subsidizes New York-area Jewish institutions that only have one or no security guards and wish to add one or two for a four-week period.
The program is responding to a moment of acute alarm in the Jewish community: In addition to the Temple Israel attack, there were violent attacks at a Manchester synagogue last October, the Bondi Beach shooting over Hanukkah, and violent incidents in San Jose, California and Toronto.
Jewish institutions were already on alert after the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel; Silber said that after the attacks, approximately 150 locations sought assistance from his group, a New York-based program founded in 2019. CSI said it issued its latest reimbursement program in response to “recent incidents and threats emanating from the war in Iran.”
This time around, there is a new wrinkle in the messaging: For the first time, the group recommends hiring armed security, in addition to securing entry points, strict entrance procedures and staff and volunteer training.
“I say this regrettably, but I think this is where we are in March 2026 — you probably have to have multiple armed guards,” Silber said in an interview. “Because both in [Manchester] and in Detroit, the car rammed into one of the guards and knocked them out of the picture. So if you don’t have armed guard number two in Detroit, this ends very differently.”
Rabbi Jonathan Leener, who leads Prospect Heights Shul in Brooklyn, said his synagogue is adding additional security through the program, which he called “incredibly generous and amazing.”
The cost of paying an armed guard for four weeks is approximately $3,200, according to Silber, though that figure rises to $14,400 for schools and $22,400 for JCCs, which require more staff shifts.
Leener also said there’s been a larger conversation around whether American synagogues will “evolve towards the European model” of tighter security for people entering the building. Saying that the Michigan attack had “struck a chord that brought that [discussion] further along,” he echoed long-standing concerns about balancing security and being welcoming.
“It’s a really hard balance to strike,” Leener said. “As a rabbi, I see my number one responsibility as the safety of the community. That has to be non-negotiable. At the same time, a shul is a beit knesset, literally a house of gathering.”
Other synagogues are adopting new measures.
In its own effort to minimize “the heightened risks facing Jewish institutions,” The Altneu, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on the Upper East Side, announced on Tuesday that it will limit attendance at this coming Shabbat service to members only.
“Thank G-d, we have been blessed with growing numbers coming to shul,” its Instagram story read. “As our crowds have grown, it has become increasingly important that we maintain clear visibility of everyone entering the synagogue.”
Leener said his synagogue, which is considerably smaller than The Altneu, is not limiting services to members. But he’s also unsure whether it will be able to retain its newly hired guard once the four weeks are up. The “major problem,” he said, is the DHS shutdown that has halted the review of millions of dollars in security funding for nonprofits, including Jewish institutions, since Feb. 14.
Applications for the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps synagogues, schools and community centers pay for security upgrades through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are frozen until a deadlocked Congress passes a new appropriations bill.
“It’s absurd that politics are interfering with much-needed funding for the Jewish community at such a critical time,” Leener said. “Every minute the shutdown drags on increases the pressure on institutions already stretched thin.”
At the city level, Phylisa Wisdom, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, said in a statement that “Mayor Mamdani knows that the safety of our neighbors and our houses of worship is non-negotiable.”
“The Mamdani administration will take every necessary step to ensure synagogues — and all religious institutions and houses of worship — are safe, secure, and free from fear,” Wisdom said. The NYPD has maintained heightened visibility around prominent Jewish religious and cultural institutions since before the Michigan attack.
While the Temple Israel attack prompted a heightened sense of alarm among Jewish institutions, some argue that, after years of bolstering security, there is little left to reinforce.
Jacob Gold, president of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue on Manhattan’s East Side, said his congregation had in the last couple of years already installed cameras, bulletproof doors and a lockdown mechanism. The one change spurred by the Michigan attack was that guards will wear security vests, making them more visible.
“It’s sad that Michigan wakes people up,” Gold said. “There’s antisemitism on the rise — we’re already awake, we’re aware, we’re concerned.”
The post NYC synagogues boost security as DHS shutdown stalls federal funding appeared first on The Forward.
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Netanyahu Applauds Eurovision Runner-Up Noam Bettan: ‘Everyone Is Very Proud of You’
Noam Bettan, representing Israel, performs “Michelle” during the dress rehearsal 2 of the Grand Final of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, in Vienna, Austria, May 15, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Israeli singer Noam Bettan on finishing in second place in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, despite boos and anti-Israel protests in the audience and boycotts from several countries due to Israel’s participation.
“Noam, what an amazing victory, what an achievement, and how much pride, strength, confidence, and artistry,” Netanyahu told the 28-year-old singer during a phone call. “You are on a path to greatness. In any case, you have the gratitude of the entire nation. Everyone is very, very proud of you.”
The prime minister also applauded the singer for standing “tall against those hollow verbal potshots.”
“You did it exactly as it should be done,” Netanyahu told Bettan. “You did a wonderful job. And I saw that the audience, as usual, was more supportive than the judges. Well done to you. Keep moving forward, rise and succeed, and many blessings.”
During their call, Bettan thanked Netanyahu for his kind words and said it was “a great privilege” to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest, “to bring honor, to represent us in a positive light, and to bring some light and goodness into this world.”
“And I have a certain hope, because I felt there was a very great unity tonight, and I hope so much that it stays with us and continues in two days, in a year, and in 50 years,” Bettan noted. “I want unity so much, and I truly hope it continues.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with singer Noam Bettan, who represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest and won an impressive second place in the competition > >https://t.co/dxTAe2NiRQ pic.twitter.com/lVMZYl2JlQ
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) May 17, 2026
The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest took place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
Bulgaria won with the upbeat dance track “Bangaranga,” performed by Dara. The victory marked the first ever Eurovision win for the Balkan nation, which will host next year’s competition. Bettan finished second with “Michelle,” a trilingual song in Hebrew, French, and English that is about putting oneself first when in a toxic relationship.
Anti-Israel protesters who disrupted Bettan’s performance during the semifinals last week were removed from the audience inside Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle after chanting “stop, stop the genocide” and “Free, free Palestine.”
“One audience member, close to a microphone, loudly expressed their views as the Israeli artist began his performance, and during the song, which was heard on the live broadcast,” Austrian national broadcaster ORF and the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the Eurovision, said in a joint statement about the incident. “They were later removed for continuing to disturb the audience. Three other people were also removed from the arena by security for disruptive behavior.”
Bettan told Reuters he also heard boos from a few pro-Palestinian protesters in the audience when he first went on stage for the semifinals.
Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland refused to participate in this year’s Eurovision because of Israel’s inclusion, in protest of the country’s military operation in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the deadly attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel also finished second in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
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Harry Styles Responds ‘Correct’ to Fan Shouting ‘Long Live Palestine’ at Amsterdam Concert
Harry Styles poses on the red carpet during for the BRIT Awards at the Co-op Live Arena, in Manchester, Britain, Feb. 28, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja
British pop star Harry Styles on Saturday night interacted with a fan who shouted a slogan in support of Palestinians during the kickoff of his “Together, Together” world tour in Amsterdam.
The “Aperture” singer was performing in Amsterdam’s Johan Cruijff Arena on the opening night of his tour and stopped to adjust his earpiece on stage when an audience member shouted, “Viva, Viva Palestina!” which means “Long Live, Long Live Palestine” in Spanish. The former One Direction singer replied to the comment saying, “Correct.” A clip of the interaction was posted on social media.
One of the charity partners for the “Together, Together” tour is Choose Love, which provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including food and medical treatment.
The tour will include more than 60 performances around the world, including in The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil. Styles’ only shows in the United States will be 30 consecutive nights at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The singer’s fourth solo album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” was released in March.
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Israel Warns of Escalating Terror Threat in West Bank as Iran, Turkey, Hamas Seek to Stoke Extremism
Israeli soldiers walk during an operation in Tubas, in the West Bank, Nov. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Israeli security officials have warned of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in the West Bank, citing deepening Iranian and Turkish involvement alongside Hamas efforts to expand terrorist infrastructure and orchestrate attacks across the territory.
According to the Israeli news outlet Walla, defense officials point to a growing role by Iran, Turkey, and Hamas in financing, directing, and sustaining terrorism, while also leveraging Gaza-linked networks to expand coordination, incitement, and operational activity across the West Bank.
With Israeli communities in the West Bank steadily expanding, the local military command is under significant strain, operating with 22 battalions while confronting a wide range of security challenges, including dismantling terrorist infrastructure, disrupting terrorist financing channels, locating weapons caches, protecting settlements, and stopping arms smuggling from Jordan.
Israeli officials have previously warned that large-scale terrorist attacks targeting local communities could serve as a destabilizing flashpoint amid the wars in Gaza and Iran.
Last year, Israeli forces uncovered documents suggesting Hamas is actively preparing plans for raids on settlements in the area.
Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, arrested six Arab Israeli citizens last month suspected of transferring millions of shekels from Hamas’s Turkish branch into the West Bank as part of an underground terrorist financing network believed to have smuggled more than three million shekels to fund attacks against Israel.
Experts also point to a growing threat from the Jenin Brigades in the northern West Bank — an alliance of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas operatives that has transformed refugee camps into bases for shootings, bombings, and ambushes.
The group’s operations are reportedly sustained by a complex financing system that moves Iranian funds through Palestinian banking channels, siphons off Israeli-collected tax revenues, and makes use of international facilitators.
“By sustaining this West Bank front through Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad networks, Tehran forces Israel to fight simultaneously across multiple fronts, drains resources that could otherwise consolidate gains in Gaza, and keeps the Palestinian issue politically radioactive enough to sabotage broader Arab-Israeli alignment,” Jose Lev Alvarez, a writing fellow at the Middle East Forum think tank, explained in a recent article.
“Tehran [then] advances its axis-of-resistance doctrine at minimal cost — no Iranian boots, no direct missile exchanges, just calibrated chaos designed to obstruct any credible day-after plan for Gaza and derail normalization agreements with Saudi Arabia or Gulf states demanding Palestinian stability,” he continued.
Last year, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned that Iran was driving a growing terrorist threat in the West Bank, with concerns that Iranian-backed arms smuggling could enable an Oct. 7-style attack.
Israeli intelligence and security forces have since intensified operations across the territory amid fears that Iranian-supplied weapons are increasingly reaching Palestinian terrorists and escalating the risk of a large-scale assault.
Israeli intelligence assessments have also warned that terrorists operating in the West Bank are believed to possess weapons capable of breaching Israeli defenses, including what officials described as “standard Iranian weapons.”
According to Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based think tank, Israeli officials should be closely monitoring the West Bank as Hamas regroups and rearms in the Gaza Strip after more than two years of war.
“Hamas and its allied factions understand that igniting violence in the territory would divert Israel’s attention during a critical time of rebuilding the group’s infrastructure in Gaza,” Truzman told The Algemeiner last year.
“The release of convicted terrorists to the West Bank under the [Israel-Hamas] ceasefire agreement may be a factor in the resurgence of organized violence in the territory,” he continued.
As of last February, Israeli security forces foiled nearly 1,000 terrorist plots over the past year, with senior military officials increasingly worried that the volatile situation in the West Bank could lead to a large-scale attack similar to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught against Israeli settlements and communities near the security barrier.
According to a survey released last year by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, 70 percent of all respondents — and 81 percent of Jewish respondents — expressed fear of an Oct. 7-style attack coming from the West Bank. In contrast, 53 percent of Arab respondents said they were not worried about such an attack.
In response to these concerns, the IDF has established a special command to address potential threats in the West Bank and launched a nearly unprecedented counterterror operation in the northern part of the territory.