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Gunfire at Synagogues and Bombings at Jewish Schools: We Must Not Retreat
FBI agents work on the site after the Michigan State Police reported an active shooting incident at the Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, US, March 12, 2026. Photo: Rebecca Cook via Reuters Connect
On the night of Purim, gunfire struck Temple Emanu-El in Toronto. Families had gathered to celebrate one of the most joyful nights in the Jewish calendar. Children wear costumes on Purim. The Megillah is read aloud. The story of survival is retold with laughter and noise. This year, the sound that reached the synagogue walls was different. Bullets struck the building. No one was injured, but the meaning of the moment was unmistakable.
The attack happened during a holiday that commemorates an ancient attempt to destroy the Jewish people. The story of Purim describes a decree calling for the extermination of Jews in the Persian empire. The ending is remembered as a victory of survival and courage. Jews have celebrated that memory for centuries. It reminds them that Jewish history has often required vigilance alongside celebration.
The gunfire in Toronto belongs to that same long narrative. It also reflects a reality that many Jewish communities are now confronting across North America and Europe. Synagogues are no longer viewed solely as places of prayer. They have become targets. Security guards stand outside buildings that once left their doors open. Cameras watch entrances that once welcomed anyone who wished to enter.
Recent attacks include the assault on a synagogue in Michigan — where security prevented the loss of so many innocents — and the bombing of a Jewish school in Amsterdam. And these are only a fraction of the attacks we are seeing.
These changes did not arrive overnight. They emerged slowly as incidents accumulated. Vandalism became more common. Threats increased. Demonstrations near Jewish institutions sometimes turned hostile. Communities adapted because they had to. Responsible leaders took steps to protect congregants and children. Security training replaced assumptions of safety.
In my work teaching personal safety and threat awareness to Jewish communities in New York, I see a pattern that security professionals understand well. Violence rarely appears without warning. It develops through signals that people either recognize or ignore. Communities that train themselves to observe early indicators of danger develop a very different mindset. The conversation moves from fear to preparation. Many families have begun discussing how to recognize early signs long before a situation becomes violent.
Adaptation has consequences beyond physical protection. When protective measures become routine, they shape expectations. A generation of Jewish children is growing up understanding that their synagogue may require guards and barriers. They see adults discussing security plans before holidays. They learn early that Jewish spaces can attract hostility.
Parents struggle with what that reality means for their children. Every family wants to raise confident and proud young people. At the same time parents carry a responsibility to protect them. Those responsibilities sometimes collide. A parent may quietly suggest removing a Star of David necklace before entering a crowded public place. Another may encourage a child to avoid drawing attention to Jewish identity outside familiar environments.
The intention behind those conversations is safety. The lesson that children absorb is more complicated. Identity becomes something that must be measured against risk. Visibility becomes a calculation.
Jewish communities have encountered this dilemma before. In many countries during the 20th century Jewish institutions tried to blend into their surroundings. Buildings were designed to appear anonymous from the outside. Public celebrations were kept small and quiet. These strategies were understandable responses to hostility. They also carried a hidden cost. A community that minimizes its own presence begins to internalize the idea that its existence is controversial.
The deeper question raised by the recent attacks is therefore larger than a few incidents. What does it mean for Jewish identity when celebration takes place under visible threat?
Purim is meant to be loud and joyful. Children shake noisemakers during the reading of the Megillah to drown out the name of Haman, the villain of the story. The holiday invites laughter and participation. When a synagogue is targeted during that celebration, the message being sent is meant to interrupt that spirit. Violence directed at Jewish institutions seeks to narrow the space in which Jewish life can exist comfortably in public.
From a security perspective, intimidation works only when it quietly reshapes behavior. That is why attacks on places of worship carry symbolic weight. They are meant to change how people gather, how they celebrate, and how visible they are willing to be.
The responsibility for confronting that intimidation does not fall on Jewish communities alone. Democratic societies depend on the ability of religious groups to gather freely. When a synagogue becomes a target, the principle being challenged is the freedom of a minority to live visibly and confidently within the broader society.
Political leaders often express support for Jewish communities after incidents occur. Words matter, yet words alone cannot shape the culture in which these incidents take place. A society communicates its values through consistency. Hatred directed at Jews must be treated with the same seriousness that any other form of bigotry receives. When condemnation becomes selective, trust erodes.
Jewish communities also face an internal decision about how they will respond. Fear can lead to retreat. Retreat may offer temporary comfort, yet it quietly reshapes identity over time.
Another response is possible. Communities can acknowledge danger without allowing it to define their future. Preparation and awareness can strengthen confidence rather than diminish it. Schools, synagogues, and community centers increasingly understand that training and preparedness save lives. In many cities, institutions now conduct active shooter training because the first minutes of a crisis often determine whether people escape safely.
Purim itself carries that lesson. The holiday remembers a time when Jews faced an existential threat and responded with courage and unity. The story has endured for centuries because it speaks to a recurring experience. Jewish life has often continued under pressure that might have erased weaker communities.
A community that continues to celebrate its traditions openly sends a message of its own. Jewish life will not be reduced to silence or caution. Holidays will still be celebrated. Synagogues will still gather families and children.
The story of Purim ends with survival. Each year Jews retell it as a reminder that history does not belong only to those who threaten violence. It also belongs to those who refuse to surrender their place in the world.
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Tsahi Shemesh is an Israeli-American IDF veteran and the founder of Krav Maga Experts in NYC. A father and educator, he writes about Jewish identity, resilience, moral courage, and the ethics of strength in a time of rising antisemitism.
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Contributor to Drop Site News Says Israelis Should ‘Be Removed From Our Planet’
Abubaker Abed reporting from Gaza. Photo: Screenshot
Abubaker Abed, a self-described Palestinian journalist and contributor to the far-left news outlet Drop Site News, has come under intense scrutiny following the circulation of social media posts in which he called for the “wiping out” of Israel and said that Israelis “mustn’t feel safe.”
The remarks, which quickly spread across multiple online platforms, have prompted widespread condemnation and renewed skepticism over the credibility and coverage of Drop Site News, a controversial publication fiercely critical of Israel and US foreign policy in the Middle East.
“Wiping out Israel off the planet is not enough revenge. Israelis mustn’t feel safe anymore. Haunt them and go after them where they go. These terrorist parasites must be removed from our planet,” Abed posted on an Instagram story.
Drop Site co-founder Ryan Grim responded to the incident by clarifying that Abed’s comments do not reflect the editorial position or institutional stance of his publication. Grim, a far-left investigative reporter who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, did not condemn the statements by Abed.
“We also are never going to police the language of anyone who survived a genocide,” Grim posted on X.
Abed, a social media influencer from Gaza who evacuated to Ireland during the Israel-Hamas war, has previously suggested that attacks on Jewish institutions might be justified if they signal support for Israel.
Following the recent attack on the Temple Beth Israel Synagogue in Michigan, Abed resurfaced a photo from the synagogue featuring an Israel soldier. Abed wrote that the attempted mass casualty event was justified because the assailant defended himself.
“A person is not criminally responsible if they act reasonably to defend themselves against an imminent and unlawful use of force,” Abed wrote in a since-deleted post on X. “Israel murdered his relatives and is illegally bombing and invading his country.”
The FBI said last week that the attack on the largest Jewish temple in Michigan was an “act of terrorism” inspired by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction.
Drop Site, a new media organization which debuted in July 2024, has found itself under immense criticism over its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader Middle East. The outlet has consistently characterized Israel as a “genocidal” aggressor stoking chaos and violence throughout the region.
Meanwhile, Drop Site depicts internationally recognized terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in a far more favorable light. Drop Site lead reporter Jeremy Scahill routinely refers to Hamas as “the resistance” and has given softball interviews to Hamas leaders.
Drop Site has also defended the Iranian regime from accusations of terrorism, asserting that Tehran’s goals “center on national sovereignty.” The site contends that Iran has “sought to project influence regionally through allied governments and forces (Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi, Iraqi Militants, etc.) what’s often called the ‘Axis of Resistance.’”
Some observers have raised alarm bells over the outlet’s growing popularity among establishment mainstream liberals. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration official and co-host of the popular “Pod Save America” podcast, has praised the outlet on his social media profile and confirmed he is a subscriber.
Drop Site’s expanding influence does not seem to be confined to left-wing or liberal ideological circles. Right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich contended on X that young conservatives are increasingly reading Drop Site “for Israel news.” Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, over the weekend reposted a Drop Site article pushing Iranian regime propaganda falsely claiming the US was actually trying to kill a downed American airman — just hours before he was dramatically rescued.
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Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash
(JTA) — A Frankfurt cinema’s decision not to participate in the local Jewish film festival is spurring allegations of antisemitism, even as its manager says the move was financial.
The Jewish Community of Frankfurt announced last week that the Astor Film Lounge did not wish to host movies during Jewish Film Days this year. The cinema, it said, had cited its workers’ reluctance to staff movies that are part of the biennial festival, as well as concerns about the security required to host Jewish events.
“The decision unequivocally signifies that Jewish life, Jewish people, and a Jewish media presence are no longer welcome at the Astor Film Lounge,” the community said in a statement.
“This line of reasoning is not only disappointing, but sends a devastating societal signal: If Jewish life and Jewish presence are suppressed out of fear of potential reactions, then this effectively amounts to a capitulation to antisemitic pressure,” the statement continued. “The fact that Jewish life can only take place under police protection is already shameful. That this necessity for police protection is now being used as a pretext to completely prevent Jewish events is a scandal.”
But the cinema’s managing director, Tom Flebbe, contested the Jewish Community of Frankfurt’s interpretation of events. In a statement cited in a leading local newspaper, he said the theater had withdrawn this year for economic reasons, as only 40 to 50 guests had come to screenings last year.
Flebbe said a lower-level manager had made unauthorized and inaccurate remarks about security concerns.
“Economic viability is a legitimate and necessary basis for business decisions — regardless of the thematic context of an event,” Flebbe said, adding that other joint projects with the Jewish community will continue as planned.
“The ASTOR Film Lounge MyZeil views Jewish life as a natural and welcome part of this society,” the statement concluded. “The decision against participating in the 2026 Jewish Film Days is not against Jewish people, Jewish culture, or Jewish presence. It is the result of a careful consideration of economic factors. We regret that our reasoning has been interpreted in this way and stand by our decision.”
During the 2024 festival, a half-dozen venues hosted screenings as part of Jewish Film Days. The Astor Film Lounge hosted one screening, of the film “March ’68,” a love story set during the Polish government’s antisemitic campaign following Israel’s Six-Day War.
Film festivals have emerged as a frontier for tensions over Israel and antisemitism. Germany’s largest film festival, the Berlinale, was roiled by tensions this year as its jury head fended off calls to criticize Israel. A major Toronto film festival, meanwhile, ruffled feathers last year by first canceling and then screening a documentary about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. And a Jewish film festival was canceled in Malmo, Sweden, last year because too few cinemas would agree to show movies for it.
Flebbe’s explanation for why Astor Film Lounge would not participate in this year’s Jewish Film Days did not satisfy everyone who heard it. The Berlin-based German-Jewish Values Initiative, a non-partisan think tank, in an open letter called the economic justification a “mere pretext.”
“To the best of our knowledge, the Jewish Community of Frankfurt was prepared to guarantee a minimum revenue” for the film festival, the letter said. By apparently giving in to “threats and antisemitic pressure,” it added, the cinema has capitulated “to the very forces seeking to drive Jews out of the public sphere.”
The post Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash appeared first on The Forward.
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Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest
(JTA) — Israeli and Serbian officials are denouncing antisemitic comments made by demonstrators during a clash between Serbian students and police at a protest last week.
“Death to Vučić and all the Jews around him,” one protester said in a televised interview, referring to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. “Long live Serbia.”
The protest last Tuesday marked the latest flashpoint in a series of anti-government protests that have erupted across the country over the past year after 16 people died in an accident at a railway station in November 2024. Hundreds of students participated in the protest, which came as Serbian police searched the offices of the University of Belgrade as part of an investigation into the death of a female student. The school’s leadership claimed that the investigation was an “attack on the university” for its support for the student-led protest movement.
Serbia and Israel first established diplomatic relations in 1948, and Vučić told the Jerusalem Post last year that the country “will always appreciate, respect, and like the Jewish people and Israel.”
Nemanja Starović, the Serbian minister of European integration and the chair of Serbia’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, called on the protest leaders to “unambiguously condemn these antisemitic incidents and to immediately remove all antisemitic messages and slogans from university premises.”
“On multiple occasions over the past months, we have warned about the widespread antisemitic ideology within the so-called blockade movement at universities in Serbia,” Starović wrote in a post on X. “Ignoring this dangerous threat has allowed it to escalate into open calls for murder, which now appear as a logical and inevitable outcome.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the demonstrator’s comments in a post on X.
“Israel strongly condemns the reprehensible antisemitic calls made yesterday in Belgrade,” the post read. “Israel appreciates the Serbian government’s immediate condemnation of these calls and its firm and consistent stance in the fight against antisemitism.”
Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Israel Office and Eastern European Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, also condemned the antisemitic rhetoric in a Times of Israel op-ed.
“One gets the impression that this is a politically motivated to harm President Aleksandar Vučić, who has close ties with the State of Israel, key Jewish organizations such as AIPAC and the Serbian Jewish community,” Zuroff wrote. “That is completely unacceptable! If these things are not stopped, they will end up in dangerous violence, and therefore cannot be ignored.”
The controversy over the protest comes as antisemitism has surged in Europe in recent years. Last September, Serbia arrested 11 individuals accused of perpetrating hate-motivated acts in France and Germany, including throwing green paint on the Holocaust Museum, several synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in Paris.
The post Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest appeared first on The Forward.