The New York City Police Department is beefing up its presence at synagogues and other Jewish institutions following the murder of two Israeli Embassy staff members at a diplomatic event this past week in Washington DC.
Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were shot and killed as they were leaving the event at the Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday night.
The gunman yelled “Free, free Palestine!” after he was arrested, and subsequently said he had carried out the deadly attack “for Gaza.”
“While there is no known nexus to NYC, in response to last night’s horrific attack in DC targeting Jews and Israelis, the NYPD is increasing its presence at religious sites and cultural institutions with high visibility patrols, heavy weapons teams and counterterrorism officers,” the NYPD said in a statement Thursday posted on the X social media platform.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams went further, warning, “This violence is exactly what they mean when you hear the words, ‘globalize the intifada.’ It is the actual playing out of these comments.”
Speaking at a news conference of interfaith leaders held to denounce the antisemitic murders, Adams went on to say, “That is what we mean when we say antisemitic propaganda masquerades as activism. Let’s call this what it is, a depraved act of terrorism.”
In response, the NYPD is surging counterterrorism officers in critical response commands “out of an abundance of caution,” Adams said, in addition to deploying heavy weapons teams to Jewish cultural institutions and houses of worship and enhancing coverage to Israeli diplomatic facilities.
The NYPD carried out a similar response after the invasion of southern Israel and massacre of 1,200 people by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. Of the 251 people dragged into Gaza that day as captives, nearly 200 have been rescued; but of the 58 hostages who remain only 20 are confirmed alive.
