http://www.cjnews.com/news/breaking-montreal-police-step-patrols-synagogues-and-schools-following-attacks
JANICE ARNOLD, Staff Reporter, Wednesday, October 22, 2014
The Jewish community campus in Ottawa’s west end was in a state of “heightened security,” not a lockdown, Michael Regenstreif, editor of The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, speaking from his office on the Jewish community campus in the city’s west end , said early in the afternoon of Oct. 22 following the fatal shooting of a soldier standing guard on Parliament Hill.
That means a security guard was posted at the front entrance of the Jewish Community Centre, which houses the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and other community organizations.
People were only being allowed into the building if they could show proper identification, but were allowed to leave, said Regenstreif, who had himself left and returned to the building since the crisis arose.
The Jewish campus, which also comprises a Jewish day school and an old-age home, is about a 15-minute drive from Parliament Hill, he said.
The campus always has guards on patrol and the school always has one at its entrance, Regenstreif said. “It’s my understanding all of the schools in the Ottawa region are in lockdown [Jewish and non-Jewish.]”
Regenstreif said the general mood on the campus was less one of concern for personal security, than worry over what is going on in the “very tense” city.
“We are not particularly scared – CIJA put out an alert that there is no threat as such to the Jewish community, but everyone knows someone who works around Parliament Hill. My layout person’s brother works at the Department of National Defense.”
Regenstreif noted that the evening before he had attended the Jewish National Fund Negev dinner at the Ottawa Convention Centre, which is just across the street from Parliament. “If this had happened last night we would have been right in the middle of it.”
Rabbi Reuben Poupko, chair of the Jewish community’s security co-ordinating committee, said Montreal police have stepped up patrols around synagogues and Jewish schools at the request of the community following the shooting in Ottawa and the hit-and-run death of a soldier and injuring of another in Quebec two days earlier by a convert to Islam who ascribed to a militant extremism.
“We are very satisfied with the response of the police,” he said. “All our buildings are open and functioning normally.” He is spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron in Côte St. Luc.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is reserving any direct comment. When phoned by The CJN, Martin Sampson, CIJA’s communications director, was in a lock-down situation inside the organization’s head office in downtown Ottawa.
At that time, around noon today, the gunman who shot the soldier outside the National War Memorial had been killed by police inside Parliament’s Centre Block where he had fled.
According to media reports, the police were searching for a second gunman. Several shots had been fired within Parliament, witnesses said, and additional shots were later heard near the Chateau Laurier hotel, east of the hill.
“I can see five members of the SWAT team moving down Queen Street,” said Sampson.
“The only comment CIJA can make at this time is that our thoughts and prayers go out to the soldier’s family [Canadian Armed Forces warrant officer Patrice Vincent, who was run over by Martin Couture Rouleau, 25, outside a federal government office in St. Jean-sur-le-Richelieu].
“At this time we are waiting for all the facts. The situation is fluid and evolving rapidly. Please call back tomorrow,” he said.
Sampson said CIJA does not know if the two attempts on members of the Canadian military are related.
“We are very concerned about the rise of extremism and continue to monitor this very closely, and see what the implications are for our community.”
Commenting on what happened in St. Jean yesterday, Rabbi Poupko said, “There is no reason to believe that Montreal or Canada are immune to the ongoing phenomenon of radicalized Muslims seeking to harm innocents in the West.
“This is not the first incident in Quebec [tied to those who espouse Islamic extremism], and the Jewish community was the target of terrorism 10 years ago with the firebombing [of a Jewish school in St. Laurent.]”
The perpetrators of the firebombing of an Outremont yeshiva and attempted firebombing outside the Snowdon YM-YWHA a few years later were also found to have been influenced by Islamic radicalism, he said.
The attack on Canadian soldiers should be a reminder that not only Israelis or Jews are the targets of Islamists, but all westerners, he said
Rabbi Poupko thinks Canadian authorities must enhance its security measures and monitoring of potential threats by extremists. “They have to do more than take their passports away.”
B’nai Brith Canada Quebec director Harvey Levine said midday Oct. 22 that his organization will not be making any comment until it has more information about the Ottawa shootings.
Community in Montreal and Ottawa respond to attacks
The Jewish community campus in Ottawa’s west end was in a state of “heightened security,” not a lockdown, Michael Regenstreif, editor of The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, speaking from his office on the Jewish community campus in the city’s west end , said early in the afternoon of Oct. 22 following the fatal shooting of a soldier standing guard on Parliament Hill.
That means a security guard was posted at the front entrance of the Jewish Community Centre, which houses the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and other community organizations.
People were only being allowed into the building if they could show proper identification, but were allowed to leave, said Regenstreif, who had himself left and returned to the building since the crisis arose.
The Jewish campus, which also comprises a Jewish day school and an old-age home, is about a 15-minute drive from Parliament Hill, he said.
The campus always has guards on patrol and the school always has one at its entrance, Regenstreif said. “It’s my understanding all of the schools in the Ottawa region are in lockdown [Jewish and non-Jewish.]”
Regenstreif said the general mood on the campus was less one of concern for personal security, than worry over what is going on in the “very tense” city.
“We are not particularly scared – CIJA put out an alert that there is no threat as such to the Jewish community, but everyone knows someone who works around Parliament Hill. My layout person’s brother works at the Department of National Defense.”
Regenstreif noted that the evening before he had attended the Jewish National Fund Negev dinner at the Ottawa Convention Centre, which is just across the street from Parliament. “If this had happened last night we would have been right in the middle of it.”
Rabbi Reuben Poupko, chair of the Jewish community’s security co-ordinating committee, said Montreal police have stepped up patrols around synagogues and Jewish schools at the request of the community following the shooting in Ottawa and the hit-and-run death of a soldier and injuring of another in Quebec two days earlier by a convert to Islam who ascribed to a militant extremism.
“We are very satisfied with the response of the police,” he said. “All our buildings are open and functioning normally.” He is spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron in Côte St. Luc.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is reserving any direct comment. When phoned by The CJN, Martin Sampson, CIJA’s communications director, was in a lock-down situation inside the organization’s head office in downtown Ottawa.
At that time, around noon today, the gunman who shot the soldier outside the National War Memorial had been killed by police inside Parliament’s Centre Block where he had fled.
According to media reports, the police were searching for a second gunman. Several shots had been fired within Parliament, witnesses said, and additional shots were later heard near the Chateau Laurier hotel, east of the hill.
“I can see five members of the SWAT team moving down Queen Street,” said Sampson.
“The only comment CIJA can make at this time is that our thoughts and prayers go out to the soldier’s family [Canadian Armed Forces warrant officer Patrice Vincent, who was run over by Martin Couture Rouleau, 25, outside a federal government office in St. Jean-sur-le-Richelieu].
“At this time we are waiting for all the facts. The situation is fluid and evolving rapidly. Please call back tomorrow,” he said.
Sampson said CIJA does not know if the two attempts on members of the Canadian military are related.
“We are very concerned about the rise of extremism and continue to monitor this very closely, and see what the implications are for our community.”
Commenting on what happened in St. Jean yesterday, Rabbi Poupko said, “There is no reason to believe that Montreal or Canada are immune to the ongoing phenomenon of radicalized Muslims seeking to harm innocents in the West.
“This is not the first incident in Quebec [tied to those who espouse Islamic extremism], and the Jewish community was the target of terrorism 10 years ago with the firebombing [of a Jewish school in St. Laurent.]”
The perpetrators of the firebombing of an Outremont yeshiva and attempted firebombing outside the Snowdon YM-YWHA a few years later were also found to have been influenced by Islamic radicalism, he said.
The attack on Canadian soldiers should be a reminder that not only Israelis or Jews are the targets of Islamists, but all westerners, he said
Rabbi Poupko thinks Canadian authorities must enhance its security measures and monitoring of potential threats by extremists. “They have to do more than take their passports away.”
B’nai Brith Canada Quebec director Harvey Levine said midday Oct. 22 that his organization will not be making any comment until it has more information about the Ottawa shootings.
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