British Jews Ramp Up Security After Paris Attacks
British police are to step up security in Jewish areas of the country after reports of hostages being taken at a Paris kosher supermarket, a Jewish community body said on Friday.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides security advice to Britain’s estimated 260,000 Jews, said police in London and Manchester in northern England had agreed to increase patrols at synagogues and other venues over the next days.
A man armed with automatic weapons seized several hostages in Paris’s Vincennes district, two days after an attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly left 12 dead.
“There is currently no known link to the UK, but CST is in continuing contact with police and government, and there will be increased policing in Jewish neighborhoods for this weekend’s Sabbath,” the trust said on its website.
Last July, the CST said anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had risen amid fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Gaza.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
