8 | MARCH 11 • 2021
guest column
We Must Join Forces to Ensure
the Protection of American Jews
O
ver the last several
years, we have seen
near-historic increases
in antisemitic incidents and
assaults as we have watched a
surge in online hate from more
vocal — and vio-
lent — extremist
groups.
From
online hate to
cyber-attacks
to the Capitol
insurrection on
Jan. 6, the danger
is real. To protect
America’s Jewish
community, it
is critical that
organizations
committed to
addressing hate,
extremism,
antisemitism, safety and securi-
ty work together.
Over the last several years
ADL, a global leader in fight-
ing antisemitism and hatred
in all forms, and the Secure
Community Network (SCN),
the official safety and securi-
ty organization of the Jewish
community, which works
under the auspices of the
Jewish Federations of North
America and the Conference of
Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, have
worked closely to coordinate
with one another, as well as
with Jewish communities and
law enforcement.
Following the 2017
white supremacist rally in
Charlottesville, Va., we began
to coordinate even more close-
ly to fight the dangerous rise
in threats against the Jewish
community.
In the wake of the attack on
the U.S. Capitol, which included
antisemitic elements — not to
mention the violent antisemit-
ic attacks in recent years on
Jewish communal institutions
in Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City
and Monsey — we are once
again taking our partnership to
a new level and signing a formal
partnership agreement for the
first time.
The protection of the Jewish
community and our democracy
requires it.
A GROWING THREAT
In September, the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS)
released a threat assessment
noting that white supremacists
“remain the most persistent and
lethal threat in the homeland.
”
The assessment made specific
reference to attacks on the Jewish
community. Only months later,
DHS publicly recognized that
the U.S. faced a growing threat
from “violent domestic extrem-
ists” emboldened by the Capitol
attack.
Our organizations differ in
focus and initiatives, but we
share a commitment to the
Jewish community. For more
than 100 years, ADL has worked
to stop the defamation of the
Jewish people through educa-
tion and advocacy, as well as by
monitoring extremism. SCN,
made up largely of professional
law enforcement and security
and military officials, is dedicat-
ed to the physical protection of
the Jewish community.
Our cooperation will allow
our respective strengths to
efficiently address the dramat-
ic rise in hate, antisemitism,
extremism and violence. Here
are some of the key aims that
we hope to achieve through the
new iteration of our longstand-
ing partnership.
Data, intelligence and infor-
mation sharing are vital to com-
munity security. Last year, the
American Jewish community
experienced the highest level
of antisemitic incidents since
ADL began collecting such data
in the early 1970s. We are in an
age in which criminal elements
often move faster than intelli-
gence, and it is critically import-
ant to ensure intelligence efforts
are as efficient as possible. Our
organizations have strength-
ened our intelligence centers to
respond to this rise.
We have begun to collaborate
on all three phases of the intelli-
gence cycle: collection, analysis
and dissemination. Working
together, we can better gather
the latest information, parse it
to discern trends, identify con-
cerning groups and individuals,
determine how serious a threat
may be and share information
with the community, allowing
people to be better empowered
and protected.
But we won’t stop with shar-
ing our findings with the Jewish
community. ADL and SCN will
also work together to ensure that
vital information, research and
data developed by ADL related
to extremist threats are dissemi-
nated broadly to security profes-
sionals, law enforcement, federal
and state legislators, community
members and others.
RISKS AT SYNAGOGUES
The Jewish community is more
secure when our congregants
are well-informed about risks
and our facilities are secure.
It is a core principle of SCN
to provide congregations with
expert security planning, pre-
paredness, risk assessment and
trainings on everything from
active security threats to poten-
tial acts in the planning phase.
The scope of these operational
security initiatives will now
expand in coordination with
ADL, and incorporate train-
ing offered by ADL related to
antisemitism and hate.
The threats that face the
Jewish community today are
diverse and expanding. In
2018 alone there were an esti-
mated 4.2 million antisemitic
tweets shared on Twitter. The
year 2019 was the deadliest year
on record for anti-Jewish hate
crimes. In the beginning of this
year, we saw a Capitol rioter
proudly wearing a shirt that
read “Camp Auschwitz.
” Our
organizations’ close coordina-
tion will enhance and improve
our community’s efforts to
mitigate these many dangers.
We must ensure that the Jewish
community is appropriately pre-
pared and resourced to combat
these threats.
Michael Masters is National Director
and CEO of the Secure Community
Network. Jonathan Greenblatt is CEO
and National Director of the ADL. This
was first published in The Forward and
reprinted with permission.
Jonathan
Greenblatt
Michael
Masters
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