{"id":252300,"date":"2026-08-17T07:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/252300\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T07:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:59:14","slug":"ny-synagogues-rethink-security-after-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/252300\/","title":{"rendered":"NY synagogues rethink security after attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

(New York Jewish Week) – A Jewish security watchdog is doubling down on safety measures in the wake of a Friday night attack against worshipers<\/a> at Manhattan\u2019s Central Synagogue, calling on police to identify cutting edge tactics to identify hot spots for potential hate crimes and to place more officers in those areas.<\/p>\n

But Mitchell Silber, CEO of the Community Security Initiative, acknowledged that preventing situations like Friday\u2019s is not straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult, because you\u2019re trying to balance being open for the public for worship, and at the same time, keeping our sanctuary safe,” Silber told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Friday night Larry Montes, 46, was able to make his way into Central Synagogue\u2019s main sanctuary before he disrupted the service with antisemitic slurs and was apprehended by a security guard. Silber said he\u2019s been in contact with Central Synagogue security leadership about the incident and understood that Montes had not initially raised any red flags when he entered the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t something so out of place that it required them to pull him aside, but they noticed him as not someone they were familiar with,” he said. According to CSI, the synagogue\u2019s team was able to quickly defuse the situation anyway due to the training it had received.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the incident, Silber said the CSI is sending a bulletin to synagogues about steps to improve synagogue safety, a copy of which was shown to JTA.<\/p>\n

The CSI has begun discussions with the NYPD about using tools like \u201cdatamining, crime cluster mapping and pre-emptively deploying against hot spots” in order to prevent hate crimes before they can happen. The CSI coordinates security for Jewish institutions and communities in the New York area, and is jointly funded by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council. (70 Faces Media, the parent company of the JTA and New York Jewish Week, receives UJA funding.)<\/p>\n

The CSI bulletin is also encouraging other synagogues to partner with the Community Security Service, another Jewish nonprofit that trains congregants to volunteer as greeters who can provide more personalized discernment of possible threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentral Synagogue isn\u2019t Park East, Park East isn\u2019t KJ, KJ isn\u2019t Congregation Beth Elohim – they\u2019re all so different, and that\u2019s why having members of the synagogue trained can really be a force multiplier,” Silber said, listing some of the city\u2019s most prominent congregations.<\/p>\n

In the incident on Friday night, Montes yelled during the service, disrupting it, and then struck a 63-year-old congregant and headbutted a member of security personnel who was escorting him out.<\/p>\n

Angela Buchdahl, the congregation\u2019s senior leader, was away for a family event when the incident occurred on Friday, according to The New York Times. But she wrote on Instagram that the security director \u201cheroically restrained and escorted” Montes out of the synagogue, which occurred within one minute of him disrupting the service.<\/p>\n

Secure Community Network, a North American Jewish security nonprofit, has similarly recommended pairing hired guards with volunteer members who know the community more intimately.<\/p>\n

Ahead of High Holiday services, the SCN is offering a series of webinars that emphasize situational awareness and how to respond to active threats. \u201cKnowing what to do during a disruption, let alone a physical attack, is a necessity – not just for our organizations, but for each member of the community,” said Michael Masters, SCN\u2019s national director and CEO.<\/p>\n

Montes has three previous arrests in New York City, each for a robbery between 2019 and 2023, according to police. <\/p>\n

He was arrested at the scene and arraigned in criminal court immediately that night, where, according to police, he was charged with four counts of assault as a hate crime, two counts of assault, criminal mischief as a hate crime, criminal mischief, disruption of a religious service, criminal trespassing as a hate crime, two counts of aggravated harassment and two counts of harassment.<\/p>\n

The District Attorney\u2019s office requested bail at $50,000 cash with $150,000 bond and the judge set bail at $10,000 cash with $30,000 bond. Montes\u2019 next court date is August 20, according to the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The attack comes as antisemitic hate crimes against Jews in New York City have risen by 8.5% compared to 2025, as of the end of July. Debate has swirled this year over whether North American synagogues need to step up their security in the mold of European congregations in the wake of attacks like the attempted one in West Bloomfield, Michigan, in which a man drove a fireworks-laden truck into a synagogue.<\/p>\n

A number of politicians have weighed in to condemn Friday\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, wrote, \u201cWhen American Jews say they feel unsafe, this is why. Antisemitism is real and it\u2019s increasing by the day.”<\/p>\n

Some have ascribed a lack of safety to rhetoric used by the city\u2019s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, a longtime Israel critic who turned heads with his recent video panning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York, called the attack \u201ca direct result of Mayor Mamdani\u2019s<\/a> sustained campaign of incitement” in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some of Mamdani\u2019s Jewish allies have pointed out that a Facebook profile that appears to belong to Montes has shared a number of posts criticizing the mayor. <\/p>\n

Mamdani wrote that he was \u201chorrified by the assault” at the synagogue, and that all New Yorkers \u201cmust be able to observe their religion without fear of violence.”<\/p>\n

Montes\u2019 social media posts include sharing a video of a Prager U commentator taking down Israel critics and multiple photos that suggest support for Israel, including a hand shaded with the Puerto Rican flag shaking another hand shaded with the Israeli flag.<\/p>\n

His aunt, who lives in Puerto Rico, told the New York Post that her nephew \u201cmight not have been in his right mind,” and that he has expressed a desire to become Jewish. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told him he had to be careful with that because those things are sacred – you have to approach them seriously,” she told The Post in Spanish.<\/p>\n

A woman named Michele Anenberg-Poma posted a photo of herself on Instagram with wounds on her lip and arm, and wrote, \u201cI am the woman who was assaulted last night at Central Synagogue.”<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cYou will not punch out our Jewish light. You will not stand and cause harm to our eternal light.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(New York Jewish Week) – A Jewish security watchdog is doubling down on safety measures in the wake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2492,37,4204,37670,443,8781,9565],"class_list":["post-252300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism","tag-israel","tag-new-york","tag-nypd","tag-security","tag-synagogue","tag-synagogue-attack"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117109795237553252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}