(New York) A man was arrested Thursday in Albany, capital of New York state, after firing shots outside the city’s synagogue, causing no injuries, Governor Kathy said Hochul.
As millions of Jewish Americans celebrate the start of the religious holiday of Hanukkah, a “28-year-old suspect, a local resident, was walking around the synagogue in a very suspicious manner according to witnesses,” said the head of the New York State Executive.
The young man “fired shots while making threatening remarks” outside the Temple Israel synagogue, added Mme Hochul, without confirming whether he had shouted “Free Palestine” as reported by the Times Union newspaper, citing police sources.
The Democratic governor, very involved in the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and the protection of the more than two million American Jews in her state, was pleased that “no one was injured by this incident”.
“The safety of Jewish New Yorkers is non-negotiable. Any anti-Semitic act is unacceptable,” she insisted in a context of an increase in verbal or physical attacks against Jewish people in the United States.
The State of New York of 20 million inhabitants “rejects hatred, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia”, assured Mr.me Hochul, announcing that the police would be on “alert” for Hanukkah evenings.
Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, 150 miles south of Albany, participated in several demonstrations in support of Israel and American Jews at the start of the Gaza war. The megacity of 8.5 million souls has nearly two million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
Mr. Adams specified for his part that “security” would be “reinforced” around Jewish menorahs, nine-branched candelabras, placed in public spaces.
Hanukkah commemorates one of the great victories in Jewish history when, in the 2nd century BCE, a small group recaptured the desecrated Temple in Jerusalem. The tiny vial that they then found to relight the candelabra, which was supposed to last one day, actually lasted eight. For eight days, at nightfall, the faithful light a flame on a candlestick called “hanoukia”, placed in the door or window frame.