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These are the steps Jewish institutions are taking to secure themselves against possible attacks
January 22, 2021
(JTA) When someone threw rocks a couple months ago at the doors of a Chabad center in Atlanta, the glass didn’t shatter.
That’s because earlier in the year, local Chabad leaders decided to reevaluate their security following an incident with a trespasser.
Neil Rabinovitz, a former 22-year veteran of the FBI who now works as community security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, visited the site and performed a security assessment. He determined that the building needed to add more security cameras, change its system for locking doors and presciently, install a.
Brad Orsini believes now is the time to run through all the “what if” scenarios, and by that he means asking the hard questions, such as: “What if armed antisemitic mobs storm my city or attack my synagogue?”
As the national security director for the Secure Community Network, Orsini knows that after the Jan. 6 extremist riot at the Capitol, Jews and Jewish institutions are at risk.
While emphasizing that there are presently no known credible and specific threats, Orsini said in a webinar Friday that all Jewish communities need to prepare.
“This is a good chance to break out emergency operations plans, review them and convene security teams,” said Orsini, the former director of community security at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.