Sep 18, 2009 8:46 pm US/Eastern
Rosh Hashanah Prompts Major Shift In NYC Security
With Threats To Area Synagogues, Local Authorities Increase Precautionary Security For Jewish New Year
Reporting
Jay Dow
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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As Rosh Hashanah arrives Friday at sundown, local authorities are stepping up security at area synagogues.
CBS
People all across the tri-state are preparing for a happy and safe Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown, and as a precaution, security is being stepped up at many houses of worship.
Amid the calls for renewal and introspection, this Rosh Hashanah will also mark a noticeable shift in how law enforcement across the region treats the high holy days.
Stepping up security is at least partly a result of recent threats against synagogues in New Jersey, and May's thwarted attack on a synagogue in the Bronx. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly says the department is taking several precautions. Kelly said the proactive security measures wasn't a response to any specific threat.
"We have what we call house of worship radio motor patrol cars. They are put in as an overlay security element," said Kelly.
But some rabbis are literally taking security measures into their own hands, training to defend their temples and their congregations.
Beefed up security for the Jewish New Year is certainly a familiar theme abroad, and in his taped video message of hope, President Barack Obama restated his hope for reconciliation between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
"This sacred time provides not just an opportunity for individual renewal and reconciliation, but for families, communities and even nations to heal old divisions, seek new understandings, and come together to build a better world for our children and grandchildren," said the president.
In May, the FBI arrested four men in New York City in an alleged plot to detonate a bomb outside a Riverdale, New York synagogue.
Arrests came after a long-running undercover operation that began in Newburgh. Federal authorities said the motive for the attack was revenge over the United States' involvement in Afghanistan.
Federal authorities arrested James Cromitie - a.k.a "Abdul Rahman," David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, on charges arising from a plot to detonate explosives near a synagogue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and to shoot military planes located at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles.
In their efforts to obtain weapons, the defendants dealt with an informant acting under law enforcement supervision, and the FBI and other agencies monitored the defendants' actions up to the time of arrest, including providing an inactive missile and inert explosives to the informant for the defendants.
The Feds said they picked up the inert weapons at a meeting in Stamford, Conn., and during the last few days secured small arms, including assorted handguns.
The investigation had been under way for about a year.
As a result of the near attacks, Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx received $25,000 to upgrade their security systems.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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