Jewish groups push back against police surge in wake of antisemitic attacks – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to up the police presence in multi-ethnic neighborhoods to combat a rise in antisemitic hate crimes has received push-back from liberal Jewish groups that contend the measures will further divide communities.

Over the weekend, de Blasio announced (several new policing measures) in response to seven hate crimes in as many days, culminating with an attack in Monsey, New York, that left five members of the ultra-Orthodox community wounded after a knife-wielding assailant stormed the house of a rabbi.

The measures include stepping up police patrols in neighborhoods including Borough Park, Midwood, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Williamsburg, as well as establishing community-based neighborhood safety coalitions overseen by the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.

In addition, the city announced an increased NYPD presence at houses of worship and during local events. Six new surveillance towers and additional security cameras will be installed throughout the neighborhoods.

But the announcement drew push back from some quarters mindful of law enforcement’s often troubled relationship with African American and Latino communities, especially as the additional policing is happening in neighborhoods where his predecessor’s stop-and-frisk policies are recalled for being applied unjustly and along racial lines.

“This is what dividing vulnerable communities looks like,”said Jews for Racial & Economic Justice in a tweet. “Instead of investing in restorative solutions that prioritize the safety of all communities is implementing a plan that treats abuse of Black and Brown communities as the answer to antisemitic violence. It isn’t. ”

After an attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh earlier this year, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice took a similar stand against plans by the Trump administration to step up security around places of worship, (warning that ““ Increased police presence and security will militarize our community spaces. ”

Other groups agreed.

Jewish Voice for Peacesaid “the rise of antisemitic violence this past week highlights the urgent need to organize as Jews with our allies who share an expansive idea of ​​equality and freedom” but that “calls for more police and paid security” were not a solution.

The group continued: “We know we have to address rising white nationalist violence – against Jews, Muslims, Black people and all people of color – while not relying on the very forces detaining and locking up and killing our friends, family & neighbors.”

David Klion,an editor of Jewish Currents, said: “Flooding ‘POC’ neighborhoods with cops is going to carry real costs, potentially even fatal ones, for tens of thousands of people who have no complicity in these attacks. I’m also deeply uncomfortable with the optics of cops functioning as security for Jews against POC. ”

Despite the rush to deploy extra police, city officials, including de Blasio, appear keen to learn the lessons of the Crown Heights disturbances of the early 300 s that found Jewish and Black communities clashing violently.

“The story of Crown Heights bears remembering right now,” de Blasio said, recalling how racial groups came together. “It took constant dialogue and constant effort to reach residents of the community, particularly our young people, and it took painstaking work. But the division that was healed and it has been changed into a community where people work together. ”

(************************************ (************************************** (Read More) (****************************************