'It’s crazy for American Jews to need metal detectors, armed guards and SWAT teams to feel safe'

The shootings of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they stepped out of an American Jewish Committee event in Washington D.C. was “the realization of our worst fears,” the organization’s CEO, Ted Deutch, said on the Haaretz Podcast. 

In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Deutch said he hoped the tragedy would mark a “turning point” and send a message to world leaders that “this is what happens when you don't speak out, when there isn't moral clarity, when you allow language like ‘globalize the intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’. People espousing these things while wearing Palestinian Islamic Jihad headbands and marching the streets in support of Hamas - this is where it can lead.”

In the U.S., Deutch said, he called on politicians and other leaders to “stand up and say Jews should not feel afraid to gather together in a synagogue, community center or anywhere just because of who they are. It's crazy that we've accepted checkpoints and armed guards and metal detectors and tactical SWAT teams standing outside of synagogues on Shabbat as normal. And that's what we need to hear from our leaders. Have we heard enough of that? No.”

Asked about Israeli ministers who pointed fingers of blame for the killing at European leaders supporting sanctions against Israel for atrocities in Gaza, Deutch said “We need the world to stand with us, and I'm not pushing anyone away right now. I want them to try to learn from this, to be our allies and take a firmer stand than they might have previously.”

“The person that I blame for what happened is the shooter,” he added, “but the environment in which it happened? That's something for which I blame the entire world.”

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