BETHESDA, Md. ( DC News Now ) — Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD) increased its police presence throughout the county on the first anniversary of Hamas attacking Israel.
Police presence was prominent on Monday, particularly at Jewish congregations.
“If we’re having a bar mitzvah, if we’re having a worship service, any time we have more than a few people in our building, we have to have police because we need to make sure that somebody who could do us harm is deterred,” Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Relations Council, said.
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Halber, who works with over 100 synagogues across the Washington Metropolitan said several synagogues across the country, including some in Maryland have seen an uptick in antisemitic attacks since the war in the Middle East began.
“We’re used to when events in the Middle East with Israel heat up that there are some repercussions impacting Jewish communities outside the state of Israel but nothing like this before,” Halber said.