ber of incidents is accelerating and
failure to address and deter these
threats will place innocent people
at risk and threaten the financial
viability of JCCs, many of which are
institutions in their communities,” the
Tuesday letter said.
“I am very concerned by the mul-
tiple threats to Jewish institutions
we have seen in Michigan,” said Sen.
Gary Peters (D-MI), “and it is impera-
tive that people from both parties
and all walks of life come together to
denounce anti-Semitism.
“I was proud to lead all my Senate
colleagues in a letter of unity to con-
demn these hateful threats and urge
President Trump’s Administration to
take swift action to protect our com-
munities from violence and intimida-
tion.”
In the wake of the threats, which
have all been hoaxes, some JCCs have
upped security and are keeping mem-
bers and parents updated regularly.
“We are taking certain measures to
make a safe environment even more
secure, but we are not at liberty to
describe such measures,” said Siegel of
the Detroit JCC.
Several parents weren’t shocked
when anti-Semitism came to their
JCC. Sam Zerin, parent of a 22-month-
old at the JCC in Providence, R.I.,
said the Feb. 27 bomb threat there
reminded him of an incident from his
childhood.
When Zerin was 13, anonymous
threats arrived at his Indiana public
school promising a mass shooting of
Jews on Adolf Hitler’s birthday. While
the shooting didn’t happen, students
had to participate in response drills,
and Zerin skipped school that day.
He said the incident taught him that
anti-Semitism, even at school, is part
of being Jewish.
“On the one hand, it’s like, ‘Oh, my
God, how is this happening?’” he said.
“On the other hand, it’s like some
things never change, and life goes on.
Life has to go on. To a certain extent,
I don’t want to give the anti-Semites
what they want.” •
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U.S./Canadian
Anti-Semitic Incidents
January-March 12, 2017
• Bomb threats to more than 150
Jewish institutions, including syna-
gogues, JCCs, schools and ADL offices
• Damage to three Jewish cemeteries.
(Damage to a fourth cemetery is now
attributed to natural causes.)
• Jewish institutions and cemeteries in
36 states and two Canadian provinces
have been targeted.
with law enforcement leaders and is
monitoring social media to help them,
as well as providing security advice to
Jewish institutions. Heidi Budaj, ADL
Michigan Region executive director,
says many local Jewish schools have
received calls from parents concerned
about security.
Jeff Downey, assistant special agent
for the Detroit FBI office, said there
has been an “increase in hate speech
and hate crimes since the election.
There is a level of vitriol on social
media that affects all minorities.” He
said most of the recent bomb threats
seem to be robo calls and that “some-
thing of this scale is probably not
decentralized.” However, Downey said
that “property damage is probably
localized.”
He urged attendees not to wipe off
or paint over any anti-Semitic words
and images, but to first call local law
enforcement. “We want to send out
agents,” he said.
At the meeting held at the Max M.
Fisher Building in Bloomfield Hills,
police personnel from Birmingham,
Ferndale, Livonia and Novi — all sites
of Jewish cemeteries — pledged con-
tinuation of stepped-up surveillance
of Jewish cemeteries. Most Detroit-
area cemeteries are locked, gated
and fenced in and some have on-site
residential managers. However, a
locked gate prevents police from
patrolling cemeteries at night. Several
police officers described special lock
box devices that could provide secure
access to cemetery keys for police.
While cameras, sensors and other
technology can improve security, they
are costly to install and maintain,
law enforcement officials said. Mike
Baker, representing the Department
of Homeland Security, described a fed-
eral nonprofit security grant for such
purposes. Michigan received $800,000
in 2016, with 70 percent allocated
to Jewish agencies, he said. Funds
for 2017 are not yet determined and
grant applicants must have a security
assessment.
“Cemeteries have such a big foot-
print — they are harder to secure
than a building. We need to priori-
tize where resources go,” said Greg
Sikorski, director of communitywide
security for the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit. He stressed that
staff training and liaising with local
law enforcement for crime prevention
tips and surveillance are essential. •
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