The anthrax scare has reached a growing number of Jewish organizations in Israel, Germany and the United States and forced hundreds of others, including those in San Francisco, to undergo emergency security training.
While no anthrax has been found at any Jewish site, many were in line to be examined.
On Wednesday, offices of several national Jewish organizations in New York were expected to be checked for anthrax after spores were found in the offices of Gov. George Pataki, whose Manhattan offices are located in the same midtown building.
The New York groups affected — the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations and ARZA/World Union, along with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel — together have approximately 325 employees.
Although the air circulation system in the building was apparently shut down to prevent spread of possible spores, the building was not evacuated. Anthrax test results were not available when the Bulletin went to press.
Additionally, three institutions occupied primarily by Jews received what they considered anthrax threats.
Suspicious powder was found Monday in the lower hold of an El Al cargo plane in Tel Aviv, and in Jerusalem the next day, the Ma’ariv newspaper office was evacuated. Also Monday, Brandeis University, outside of Boston, evacuated a building after a white powdery substance was received in an envelope. On Tuesday, the Israeli Embassy in Washington was temporarily closed when a letter containing a suspect substance arrived at the building next door, occupied by the United Arab Emirates Embassy.
All incidents were false alarms.
But the Ma’ariv discovery was allegedly perpetuated by an employee of the publication who is being fired and could face jail time.
Also on Wednesday, the Israel Embassy in Berlin was evacuated after a suspicious envelope arrived. A section of Israel’s Knesset building was closed after two members, Naomi Chazan and Yossi Sarid, received letters with white powder. Both were taken to a hospital, given antibiotics and released.
Moreover, two employees in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office received similar medical treatment after opening an envelope containing white powder.
Meanwhile in the Bay Area, Greg Murphy, director of facilities and office services for the San Francisco Jewish Family and Children’s Services, made the rounds of all JFCS sites to teach its staff new procedures in opening mail. He is also providing the service to a few other Jewish offices seeking it — including the Bulletin.
Murphy has had experience with mail threats before. Back in the days of Theodore Kaczynski’s letter bombs, he attended a training session to learn what to be suspicious of in the mail.
Like the Unabomber threat, he noted that the anthrax threat “extends to all packages, not just mail.”
He is coordinating his efforts with those of Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Without getting into specifics, Kahn said that the procedures of all the Jewish Community Federation’s affiliated agencies “are being reviewed and upgraded. We and everyone is being conscientious about it.”
National Jewish organizations are taking even stronger precautions with mail handling.
AIPAC, the leading pro-Israel lobby, stopped opening mail Monday that lacked a return address after it got word that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s office had received a letter containing anthrax.
According to spokeswoman Rebecca Needler, AIPAC is now reassessing its mail policy. “We’re going to do everything in our power to secure AIPAC offices all around the country,” she said.
Leaders of other national Jewish organizations said they are scrutinizing their mail much more closely, especially letters from suspicious locales — such as Florida, where the anthrax scare began at offices of a tabloid publishing group.
For years, Jewish organizations have been the recipients of crank mail. The challenge now is to separate that from a real threat.
“We, like all Jewish institutions, have always received crank communications, threatening communications, some more credible than others,” said Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress. “I don’t see an increase in the quality or quantity of such communications. However, because of the changed circumstances and the sober reality we’re facing, I think we address it in a much more serious manner.”
Jewish communities abroad already had been on high alert since the al-Aksa intifada began a year ago, but have been placed on even higher alert since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Steinberg said.
To buttress those efforts, he added, the WJC has established a new “security fund” for those communities to upgrade their building security with, say, reinforced locks or doors or addition television monitors.
Another Jewish leader who is outspoken in his hard-line views said he began to receive threats after the intifada began. Law enforcement officials advised him to purchase a bulletproof vest. The activist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he has worn it more often in the past month when he travels to speaking engagements, “because I’m more concerned now.”
However, he said, the heightened alert has had “zero impact” on his criticism of Palestinian terrorism. “In fact, it’s inspired me even more to speak out more forcefully against those who promote hatred and murder.”
At Brandeis, students received an emergency e-mail Monday notifying them that two buildings had been evacuated after an administrative assistant to President Yehuda Reinharz opened an envelope and found white powder on her hand.
The buildings were cleared for three hours while law enforcement officials investigated.
“People are angry that the cost of a stamp can shut down university operations for a couple of hours,” said Dennis Nealon, a Brandeis spokesman.
Jews are not overreacting, activists say, but are mindful of history. There were a rash of letter-bombs aimed at Jewish leaders in the 1970s and 1980s, the height of the movement to free Soviet Jews, noted Myrna Shinbaum, spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League.
“Everyone wants to be safe rather than sorry,” Shinbaum said. “It’s more prudent to implement the safety protocols beforehand than to wait until you get the threat.”
However, Jewish organizations and institutions should be vigilant — but careful not to go overboard, activists say.
“There’s no indication Jews are special targets, but that doesn’t mean we’re not vulnerable,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “We should take every necessary precaution but not allow ourselves to be diverted from our work or paralyzed by fear.”