Local Jewish leaders are mourning the massacre of at least 15 people on an Australian beach during the first day of Hannukkah.
The killings happened after a wave of antisemitic attacks in Australia over the past year. Those dead include a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.
The CEO of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Eric Stillman, talked about the repercussions. He said shootings like this have become all too familiar.
"It is all too sad and familiar as antisemitic rhetoric and incidents have been ramping up, particularly in Australia, over the last couple of years, and as we've seen, political violence has occurred as a result of this increased rhetoric and very antisemitic rhetoric and actions," Stillman said. "And this is just a punch in the gut."
The inevitable reaction, he said, is that security precautions that are already in place will become more robust.
"I think all Jewish institutions at this point are going to be having ramped up security measures," he said, "And while they may not publicize what those are, I believe all the institutions are taking those measures because this is, unfortunately, all too familiar a refrain."
At an event on Monday, Mayor Jane Castor discussed the precautions Tampa is taking to protect religious institutions.
"There's so many threats worldwide and antisemitism that we do have extra duty officers that are hired to work at the synagogues," Castor said. "It's unfortunate that that's the way of the world today, but we make sure everyone in our community is safe."
Castor said extra security was on duty when the first candle of an outdoor menorah was lit Sunday night in downtown Tampa.
Speaking on WUSF's Florida Matters Live and Local, Joseph Probasco, who serves on the Board of Directors of the Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation, said Jewish congregations have been forced to provide increased security at all events. He said it's estimated that Jewish organizations in the U.S. spend around one-tenth of their budgets to hire off-duty officers and install metal detectors.
Philip Weintraub, rabbi of Temple B'Nai Israel of St. Petersburg,
said one of the miracles celebrated during Hannukah is the freedom to worship, plus: "That we could be secure in our homes to celebrate our holidays, to live our lives, and unfortunately that security is poked and prodded and attacked in all sorts of different ways, generation after generation."
Stillman said if we fail to educate people about the impact of hateful rhetoric toward people who are different, these killings will continue to happen.
"It is teaching people the lessons of the Holocaust, because if we do not educate people, from the children to the adults, we are seeing that there will continue to be a repetition of these acts of violence and killings," he said, "Which because of the rhetoric and because of the way in which people talk about and act toward, people who are different than they are."
"It is educating everybody in society around those folks, so that the people who are being radicalized to take these actions are going to be more and more outliers in the society around them," he continued.
