GEO stands with our Jewish community as they process the aftermath of the January 15 hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX. We wish to reaffirm our solidarity with our Jewish members and siblings, who have once again been targeted by antisemitic violence. This was no isolated incident. It is part of a frightening trend of attacks on the American Jewish community, which includes not only the tragedies experienced at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and the Chabad of Poway, California, but also the October 31 arson attack on nearby Congregation Beth Israel of Austin, TX, and many more throughout the United States.
GEO must not be silent about antisemitism. We urge all of our members to take time to learn about the way antisemitism operates in the modern world, which has contributed to, but not culminated in, the events in Colleyville. Too often, these violent acts may go unrecognized and unremarked-upon by those outside of the affected community. This silence can contribute to a broader perception that Jewish people are not central to our movement against bigotry and white supremacy. If left unchecked, this perception can leave the Jewish community vulnerable to attacks in the future. We must refute this, both by speaking up to affirm our Jewish members and siblings as essential to our community, and by committing to challenge antisemitism where we encounter it.
The hostage-taker travelled to the US and targeted a small Jewish congregation in a Dallas suburb because he, like the person whose release he demanded, bought into age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories. Both ultimately blame Jewish people for her conviction and sentencing. We strongly condemn the perpetuation of these conspiracy theories, which continue to bring real violence and trauma upon innocent Jewish civilians and communities. In 2020, 58% of religiously-motivated hate crimes in the US targeted Jewish people.
Antisemitism is a foundational component of white supremacy; we must root them both out wherever we find them. We want to acknowledge that the fallout from this incident may particularly harm Jews of color, who experience overlapping and reinforcing threats from the unchecked spread of antisemitism and white supremacy.
We are grateful for the heroism of Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, even as we mourn its necessity. Rabbi Cytron-Walker is a valued member of our extended U-M community. He is from Lansing, and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1998. Upon graduation, he worked for a time for a civil and human rights non-profit organization in Detroit. Our thoughts are especially with folks in Ann Arbor and Lansing, and elsewhere in Michigan, who know the rabbi personally and spent Saturday in fear for his safety.
Rabbi Cytron-Walker took great personal risk to act in the final moments of the stand-off, ensuring that the two other remaining hostages were able to escape safely before him. While the media has credited the police and FBI for this outcome, the survivors’ accounts of their own experiences do not support this narrative. All four community members showed extraordinary courage and resourcefulness that day, and worked as a team to escape their attacker.
Rabbi Cytron-Walker welcomed the attacker into the synagogue, first assuming that he was looking for protection from the cold, as many unhoused people are struggling through the winter weather. The doors of the synagogue typically remain locked during services; Rabbi Cytron-Walker, who is described as an active and justice-oriented participant in the local area and a frequent forger of bridges between community groups, saw a person in need and extended compassion to give him shelter. GEO would also like to express concern on behalf of the unhoused community, who already suffer a great deal of marginalization and stigma, which may be compounded in the aftermath of this event. For those who would like to support this community, we have provided some links to organizations which serve the unhoused below.
If you would like to lend support, please consider donations to the following:
- Congregation Beth Israel: https://www.congregationbethisrael.org/chaihopes
- Secure Community Network, a non-profit that provides training to synagogues and Jewish community centers; the survivors all credit their SCN training for saving their lives: https://securecommunitynetwork.org/
- Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas: https://jfsdallas.org/
- Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County: https://jfsannarbor.org/
- Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit: https://www.jfsdetroit.org/
- Shelters in need of donations
- Shelter Association of Washtenaw County: https://www.annarborshelter.org/
- Vogel Alcove, Dallas: https://www.vogelalcove.org/
- Austin Street, Dallas: https://austinstreet.org/
- The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, Dallas:https://www.bridgehrc.org
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