THREAT CHRONOLOGY: JEWISH COMMUNAL SECURITY
In Support of Increased Funding of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program
February 24, 2015
Spotlight: Weekend Terror Threats by Al-Shabaab Against American and Jewish Civilian Targets
As reported by BBC News (February 22, 2015), US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has urged people to be vigilant following a terror threat by the Somali-based group Al-Shabaab. In a 76-minute video, the group urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centers in the US, Canada and the UK. A man with a British-sounding accent and full face covering called on supporters of Al-Shabaab to attack "American or Jewish-owned" Western shopping centers. According to the BBC, Secretary Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of "a new phase" of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from "independent actors in their homelands". "Anytime a terrorist organization calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," he said.
In 2009, Al-Shabaab established an “Al Quds Brigade,” a military unit specifically tasked with attacking Israel and Jewish interests (ADL Terrorist Database), and in 2012, Al-Shabaab stated its allegiance with Al-Qaeda (ABC News, February 9, 2012). The threats to the US are not idle, as Al-Shabaab has American supporters. On July 23, 2014, a leading US operative of the terrorist organization, Muna Osman Jama, 34, was arrested (among others) by the FBI’s Washington Field Office in Reston, Virginia, for providing the group with material support. (Link:
Moreover, according to an ADL report, dated October 2013, “A wave of Americans traveling to Somalia to fight with Al-Shabaab has been described by the FBI as one of the ‘highest priorities in anti-terrorism.’ These Americans have received weapons training and most of the American men training with Al-Shabaab are believed to have been radicalized in the U.S. The FBI alleges that these young men have been recruited by Al-Shabaab both on the Internet and in person… FBI director Robert Mueller said he was ‘absolutely’ concerned that the young American men may return to the U.S. with their passports and attempt to carry out an attack on U.S. soil.” (Link:
In response to Al-Shabaab’s most recent video, the FBI, DHS, and NCTC released a Joint Intelligence Bulletin (JIB) (February 22, 2015). According to the JIB, “[t]he video’s characterization almost certainly will add to HVEs’ [Homegrown Violent Extremists] preestablished perceptions of atrocities against Muslims by the United States and its allies.” The JIB urges, “vigilance by security professionals because the individualized nature of the radicalization process makes it difficult to predict triggers that will contribute to HVE plotting. Moreover, HVE lone offenders present law enforcement with limited opportunities to detect and disrupt plots, which frequently involve simple plotting against targets of opportunity.” The JIB further urges, “vigilance by security professionals for indications of preoperational activity, and encourage partners to keep security plans and protective measures up to date.” The JIB warns of “Pre-Operational Surveillance,” such as, “Suspicious interest in entry points, peak days and hours of operation, security personnel, surveillance assets (including cameras), and access controls such as alarms, barriers, doors, gates, or locks.” In other words, the target hardening capabilities of a potential “soft” target, such as those provided through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
The Al-Shabaab video follows a litany of threats from across the ideological spectrum against the Jewish community, as chronicled in the below 69-page summary, covering from April 13, 2014 to the present. For these reasons, we urge Congress to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program within the pending FY 2015 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, to further harden at-risk Jewish communal institutions to protect against HVEs.
Point of Contact: Robert B. Goldberg, Senior Director, Legislative Affairs, at: 202-736-5881 or .
Threat Chronology (April 13, 2014 to the Present):
United States, February 24, 2015 (JTA): More than half of today’s American Jewish college students have witnessed or experienced an anti-Semitic incident, according to a new study, the 2014 National Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students.Some 54 percent of the participants in the survey released Monday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center and Trinity College said they had experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism within the past academic year. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2014, prior to the outbreak of hostilities last summer in Gaza.The online survey of 1,157 students, conducted by Trinity College professor Barry Kosmin and associate professor Ariela Keysar, found that the percentages of students reporting encounters with anti-Semitism were relatively consistent across gender, religious outlook and geographical region.
United States, February 24, 2015 (JTA): A threat on “American or Jewish” shopping centers by the terrorist group responsible for the deadly 2013 attack on a Kenya mall has the U.S. security apparatus calling on the public to be vigilant.Al-Shabab, a Somali group affiliated with al-Qaida, posted a video over the weekend about the Nairobi attack, which killed 67. The video concluded with a masked fighter encouraging followers to attack shopping centers around the world.“If just a handful of mujahedeen fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week, just imagine what the dedicated mujahedeen could do in the West to American or Jewish shopping centers across the world,” the masked person said.U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said the global war on terror has entered a “new phase” and urged the public to be “vigilant.” “Groups like ISIL [Islamic State], al-Shabab, AQAP (al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula) are now publicly calling for attacks either through the Internet, through videos, through publications,” Johnson said on ABC News. “Which means that we need to respond militarily, but we also have to have a whole government approach through law enforcement, homeland security and frankly countering violent extremism efforts here in the homeland in communities.”
Copenhagen, Denmark, February 23, 2015 (CNN): The man suspected of killing two people in Copenhagen swore fidelity to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a posting made on what is apparently his Facebook page just before the weekend shooting spree. The suspect in Saturday's attack has been named as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, a senior member of the Danish government said. The gunman opened fire at a free speech forum in Copenhagen on Saturday before shooting several people outside a synagogue and then firing at police. Police killed him in the shootout. The nation began the healing process Monday night with a candlelight vigil at which Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt appealed for national unity."An attack on Denmark's Jews is an attack on everyone," she said. "The Jewish community is an important part of Denmark…”Charges have been filed against two men who are accused of helping to hide the gunman, the men's attorney said Monday. Lawyer Michael Eriksen said the men, 19 and 22, were charged with two counts of accessory to murder and five counts of accessory to attempted murder.Hours after the cafe attack, police said, the gunman made his way to a Copenhagen synagogue and once again opened fire. Two officers were wounded, and a man providing security for a bat mitzvah party(a Jewish rite of passage for young teens) behind the synagogue died. The Jewish Society of Denmark identified the deceased as 37-year-old Dan Uzan. Authorities are "operating under a theory" that the gunman may have been inspired by the January terror attacks in France, where four Jewish civilians were gunned down at a kosher market and nearly a dozen employees at a satirical magazine were similarly killed. The Danish intelligence service said it had been alerted last year that the gunman believed to be responsible for deadly attacks on a synagogue and free-speech event in Copenhagen was at risk of being radicalized. But the agency, known by its Danish initials PET, said it had no indication that the gunman had been planning an attack. (Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2015). Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister, said that there were no signs that the killer was linked to a wider network or received jihadi training outside Denmark. The alleged gunmanis the Danish-born son of Palestinian immigrants. (The Times (UK), February 17, 2015)
Belgium, February 23, 2015 (JTA): Belgian prosecutors indicted a Frenchman accused of helping a gunman kill four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium last year. The defendant, Nacer Bendrer, was extradited from France earlier this week and formally charged Thursday with complicity in the May 24, 2014 terrorist attack, the French news agency AFP reported. Bendrer, 26, was arrested in December near Marseille, France, the same city where authorities arrested the alleged gunman in the attacks, French national Mehdi Nemmouche. Belgian and French authorities believe that Nemmouche is a Muslim fanatic who carried out the attack after returning from Syria, where he had fought with jihadists. Police said they found a Kalashnikov style assault rifle, two automatic pistols, a hunting rifle, and a magazine and ammunition when Bendrer was arrested. Video surveillance footage of the attack on the Jewish Museum shows a man armed with a Kalashnikov.
Kremenchuk, Ukraine, February 23, 2015 (JTA): The grave of a daughter of the Breslover movement’s founder, Rabbi Nachman, was set on fire and daubed with a swastika. The 1831 grave was set ablaze sometime after the completion last month of its renovation by the Oholei Tzadikim association, which works to restore Jewish burial sites throughout the region. “The damage is very extensive,” Rabbi Shimon Buskila of the World Breslov Center told JTA on Sunday. “They destroyed the structure that was only recently erected.”Rabbi Nachman’s teachings have inspired hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide. His grave in the city of Uman in Ukraine is among the Hasidic world’s most visited burial sites.
Lakewood, New Jersey, February 22, 2015 (Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism):A local news source reports that the word “Jude,” German for “Jew,” was painted several times on the windows and signs of a store in Lakewood, where a large Orthodox Jewish community resides. Police are reportedly investigating the incident, which allegedly follows similar messages targeting the Lakewood Jewish community in recent weeks.
Whitefish, Montana, February 21, 2015 (Missoulian/Southern Poverty Law Center): A 28-year-old man who threatened to kill school children and Jews is in custody in Kalispell, Montana after sending out numerous tweets that were intercepted and monitored by the spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. David Joseph Lenio was arrested by FBI agents and local police about 12 hours after his last tweet using variations of the name “psychic dog talks.”Lenio is being held in the Flathead County Jail on two felony charges on intimidation and malicious intimidation for making online threats of violence. When police searched his residence they found a 9mm semi-automatic rifle, a Russian-made bolt action rifle, .32 caliber ammunition, 9 mm ammunition, and 7.62 mm ammunition. In his basement, they found more ammunition. In his vehicle, officers discovered a .32 caliber semi-automatic pistol with a round in its chamber and three fully loaded .32-caliber magazines.Among his tweeted comments, Lenio said he wants to execute 30 or more “grade school students” and “shoot up a school” and a synagogue, and put “two in the head” of a rabbi or Jewish leader.
United States, February 20, 2015 (CNN):A new intelligence assessment, circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN, focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists.The Homeland Security report, produced in coordination with the FBI, counts 24 violent sovereign citizen-related attacks across the U.S. since 2010. According to CNN, the report assesses that "law enforcement officers will remain the primary target of (sovereign citizen) violence over the next year due to their role in physically enforcing laws and regulations." While the DHS report is confidential, the Southern Poverty Law Center published its own report on February 12th, whichtracked 63 VHE incidents in the US from between April 1, 2009, and February 1, 2015. In addition to violence against law enforcement, it reported on several deadly or otherwise violent anti-Semitic incidentsperpetrated by violent rightwing fanatics. (See below for additional details).
Oslo, Norway, February 20, 2015 (JTA): The city of Oslo has closed traffic permanently on the street leading to the Norwegian capital’s main synagogue.Ervin Kohn, president of the Jewish community in Oslo and the deputy director of the Norwegian Center Against Racism, explained that the decision was made following the slaying on February 15 of a guard at the main synagogue of Copenhagen in Denmark.The Jewish community of Norway, which has seen a number of threats in recent years, has long lobbied for the closure, which city officials had resisted and termed excessive.Police in Norway and Sweden have beefed up security around synagogues. In Sweden, police also received protective gear for their security.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 20, 2015 (JTA):More than 400,000 people paid tribute to the late AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman in a “silent march.”Other marches remembering Nisman on the one-month anniversary of his death were held Wednesday throughout Argentina and in cities throughout the world.Nisman, 51, was found dead in his Buenos Aires home on Jan. 18, hours before he was to present evidence to Argentine lawmakers that President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and other government officials covered up Iran’s role in the 1994 attack on the Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 and injured hundreds.
US Citizens, Israel, February 19, 2015 (JTA): A new U.S. State Department travel warning for Israel cites recent injuries to and deaths of U.S. citizens. The warning, updated Wednesday on the department’s website, states, “A rise in political tensions and violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank has resulted in injuries to and deaths of U.S. citizens,” in 2014. “Among the U.S. citizens killed in recent months were Naftali Fraenkel, one of three teens kidnapped and killed by Palestinian terrorists in June; Chaya Zissel Braun, a 3-month-old killed in October when a Palestinian driver plowed into a crowd at a light rail station on Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem; and three rabbis killed in the terror attack in November on a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood.
Europe, February 19, 2015 (Washington Post): Getting a gun legally in Europe may be hard, but terrorists have little trouble, according to the Washington Post. As reported: “Europe, a continent long known for the rarity of gun violence, is confronting twin challenges that give the issue sudden urgency: a growing population of radicalized young men determined to strike targets close to home, and a black market awash in high-powered weapons.” Beginning with attacks in the French city of Toulouse in 2012 on Jewish school children and military personnel, which left seven people dead, guns have become the weapon of choice for Islamist terrorists in Europe. This represents a shift from the last decade, when bombs were used in mass-casualty attacks.The new tactics may reflect the lone-wolf nature of the recent assailants, who seem to have operated with relative autonomy and not as part of centrally directed terrorist plots.Analysts say explosives can be easier to detect than guns and are harder to transport and assemble. Guns also require less expertiseto carry out deadly strikes.The use of guns has enabled terrorists to pick their victims more precisely. In Paris and Copenhagen, the targets were the same: cartoonists, police officers and Jews.
Brussels, Belgium, February 19, 2015 (JTA/kikar.col.il): A Brussels-based rabbi who has lobbied for improved security for European Jews filed a police complaint over death threats made against him.Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association lobby group, was threatened on his personal Facebook page shortly after the murder of a volunteer Jewish security guard outside the main synagogue of Copenhagen, according to a February 12 report on the website of the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism. The threat came amid many anti-Semitic slurs posted on Margolin’s Facebook page.
France, February 18, 2015 (CNN):Additionalcemeteries have been vandalized in France, at a time of heightened sensitivity over religion and terrorist threats. The Interior Ministry announced swastikas were scrawled in Jewish cemeteries in Challans, in the west, and Issoudun, in central France.Those three incidents are in addition to the defacing of tombstones in western France's Tracy-sur-Mer and the desecration of about 250 graves in a Jewish cemetery in Sarre-Union the week prior.