Shooter drills and armed guards at synagogues: How Jewish communities are responding to rising antisemitism in US
Antisemitism in the United States has risen in a “really horrific way”, according to the Jewish Federation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The city was home to the most deadly attack on Jewish people in America – a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018.
Eleven people were killed and six injured. A jury is due to decide in the coming days whether the gunman, Robert Bowers, should face the death penalty.
Jewish communities across the US are undertaking “active shooter” drills in response to the atrocity, and to an increase in antisemitic hate crime.
Jeff Finkelstein, the chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told Sky News: “Antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred, it’s been around for a long time. We’ve been lucky in America where it’s been kind of buried below the surface.
“As I think we’ve seen around the world, with a rise in all forms of hatred, antisemitism has popped its head up in a really horrific way, here in the United States and around the world.”
The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks hate crime, recorded 3,697 antisemitic incidents throughout the US in 2022.
That was an increase of 36% on the previous year and the highest number recorded since the organisation started tracking such behaviour in 1979. Incidents recorded included harassment, vandalism and physical assault.
Weekend worship at Squirrel Hill comes with security cameras and armed guards
In 2021, the Jewish Federations of North America launched a $130m LiveSecure campaign to provide communities with security training.
Eric Fingerhut, its president and chief executive, told Sky News: “Over the last decade or more, it’s become apparent that one of the core responsibilities of each federation for its communities is safety and security and that the efforts needed to grow significantly in sophistication and in numbers because of the rise of antisemitism and the consequent rise in violent incidents.
“Since Pittsburgh, which was October of 2018, there were maybe 15 or 20 committees that had (security) programmes – now, there are over 95.”
Run, hide, fight
Former law enforcement professionals give a safety briefing
Sky News attended a training session laid on by the Jewish Federations of Southern New Jersey at a Community Centre in Wilmington, Delaware.
Around 25 adults were given a practical safety briefing by former law enforcement professionals, built around the principles of “run, hide, fight”.
It is shooting survival training as a life skill.
Bud Monaghan, executive director of JFed Security
Bud Monaghan, executive director of JFed Security, said: “The real root of it is to teach situational awareness and response to an active threat and reinforce that as a life skill, so that people have an understanding that it’s not simply just a focus when they’re in synagogue, or maybe at the Jewish Community Centre, but something that they should incorporate into their daily routine, their daily life.
“Because the state of affairs unfortunately in the world today – it’s something (in which) people critically need to enhance their survivability in the event that they’re caught in a situation with an active threat or an active shooter.”
Jury to decide whether gunman should face death penalty
Having convicted the gunman behind the Tree of Life shooting, a jury in Pittsburgh will now decide whether Roger Bowers should face the death penalty or an alternative sentence of life without parole.
The 50-year-old truck driver was charged with 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and the obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death.
Before the shooting, he had expressed a hatred of Jewish people on social media. The synagogue is situated in the Pittsburgh neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, which has a 40% Jewish population.
In the wake of the mass shooting on 27 October, the 10.27 Healing Partnership was set up to support members of the community.
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Its director, Maggie Feinstein, told Sky News: “I think a lot of antisemitism comes from somebody needing to find somebody to blame.
“I think that when there are ills, when people are starting to feel some sense of being left out or not having opportunity then, often-times, antisemitism rises… Clearly, that’s what must be happening in America right now because, when we look at the rates, we’re aware of that.
“And, I think, when we look at the rates, we also have to remember that we’ve tried to make it safe for people to report hate crimes in a way that wasn’t true many years ago.”
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have not “done anything” to end the Ukraine war, US President Donald Trump has said.
He called the French president a “friend of mine” and the UK leader a “nice guy” but said Russia had only agreed to negotiate “because of me”.
Mr Trump made the comments days before both leaders visit the White House for a meeting in which they must try to press Ukraine‘s case while keeping the US leader onside.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron in Paris: Pic: Number 10/Flickr
The president also continued his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he had “no cards” to play.
“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he told a Fox radio show.
The comments come after he recently called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections” – apparently in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying his US counterpart was living in a “disinformation space” after Mr Trump claimed Ukraine had started the war.
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Ukraine was also excluded from talks between the top US and Russian diplomats in Riyadh earlier this week.
They were intended to set the stage for future negotiations on ending the war, which started when Russia launched a full-scale invasion three years ago.
Speaking on Friday evening, Mr Trump denied speculation he could visit Moscow for talks on 9 May – the day Russia celebrates its victory over the Nazis.
President Trump speaks in the Oval Office on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also told reporters the Russian and Ukrainian leaders needed to “work together” to end the war.
However, the US has already dealt a huge blow to Kyiv’s position in any future talks.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that a return to pre-war borders was “unrealistic” and ruled out NATO membership as way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.
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President Zelenskyy has insisted he will not accept any deal that his country is not involved in.
Ukraine’s leader held talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday, describing it later as a “good discussion”.
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Mr Kellogg struck a markedly different tone to President Trump when he called Mr Zelenskyy the “courageous leader of a nation at war”.
However, there are concerns over how much influence Mr Kellogg has, with a Ukrainian source saying there was a sense he had been sidelined.
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