TAMPA, Fla. — It has been nearly two weeks since Hamas attacked Israel. Now, cities across the world are ramping up security around places of worship following the attack.
While there is no credible threat on any given day, it only takes one. And as we’ve seen before, there’s usually little to no warning.
That is why the Tampa Jewish Community Center, or JCC, is planning for the worst but hoping for the best.
“We should be concerned there are definitely security risks out there. But I believe as a community in representing the Jewish Federation and the JCCs here in Tampa that we're doing everything that we reasonably can to protect the safety and security of our members, and guests and staff. But with that said, you never know what's around the corner,” explained Mark Segel, the director of Strategic Initiatives at Tampa JCC.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued “public safety concern” bulletins to state and local law enforcement. This causes people of all faiths in Tampa to be a little more on edge.
Dr. Alex del Carmen leads the School of Criminology at Tarleton State University in Fort Worth, Texas. He said that we here in the United States are at a boiling point.
LaGrone asked Dr. Alex del Carmen, “How concerned should Jewish synagogues, temples, schools and community centers need to be right now?”
“I think they should be very concerned. Part of what we look at when we tried to assess the threat level in specific places is we look for social media chatter,” said Dr. del Carmen. “And what we've seen in the past few days has been an increase of social media attacks against synagogues, you know, throughout the United States.”
He continued, “Now, the FBI will tell you that there's nothing specific in place right now where they will be particularly worried, and that is true. However, there is a concern, in general, that once the ground invasion takes place, from Israel to Gaza, that these threats are going to escalate.”
When asked about the threat to the mosque, Dr. del Carmen said the threat goes both ways.
“It's not only intense against Jewish institutions and related factors but also against the individuals that are of the Muslim faith. And so, we have to be concerned in the law enforcement industry on both components and everybody in between,” said Dr. del Carmen.
The Tampa JCC is still holding events, and members are still coming there as part of their daily routine. But local law enforcement, including the FBI, are helping them beef up their security during this time.
“I have confidence in the leadership here in the community. We are taking this very seriously. Again, we are doing everything I believe we reasonably can. And I do believe that we have safe places for our people to congregate, but we have to remain vigilant,” said Segel.
