The Jewish Journal covered our tweet, along with tweets and statements made by other Jewish organizations, regarding the hostage situation at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.

A gunman has taken a rabbi and three others hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, TX on January 15.

The hostage situation started toward the end of Shabbat services at Congregation Beth Israel; the suspect is reportedly calling for sister, Aafia Siddiqui, to be released from prison. Authorities have yet to confirm that the suspect is in fact Siddiqui’s brother. Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 for attempting to kill United States soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan. She is currently serving her sentence at Federal Medical Center Carswell prison in Fort Worth. The gunman reportedly said during a live stream of the services he is “going to die doing this” and that the hostages are “going to die.”

As of this writing, no one has been injured inside the synagogue. SWAT and the FBI are at the scene and the White House is monitoring the situation. The situation is ongoing.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also tweeted that he is monitoring the situation. “We pray for the safety of the hostages and rescuers,” he wrote.

Various Jewish groups voiced their prayers for the hostages and called for a peaceful resolution.

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B'nai B'rith tweeted: "We are closely monitoring reports of a possible hostage situation unfolding at Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. We are praying for a swift and peaceful outcome."

The rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, has been the rabbi of the congregation since 2006 and was previously the president of the South West Association of Reform Rabbis, according to the synagogue’s website. He also previously worked for Focus: HOPE, a Detroit-based organization focusing on ending racism and poverty, and Amherst Survival Center, a Massachusetts-based organization providing food for the needy. Cytron-Walker is the first full-time rabbi at the synagogue and Congregation Beth Israel is a reform synagogue that was first established in 1998.
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A 2014 Foreign Policy article stated that Siddiqui is known as “Lady Al Qaeda” over her alleged ties to the terror group. According to Jewish News Syndicate, Siddiqui was initially arrested by Afghan police in 2008 for carrying sodium cyanide and a flash drive filled with instructions on how to build Weapons of Mass Destruction. While detained, Siddiqui allegedly grabbed a rifle on the floor and fired it at U.S. military personnel. Siddiqui has denied the allegations and over the years various activists have called for her freedom, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR did condemn the ongoing hostage situation.

The Forward noted our call, along with other Jewish organizations and elected officials, for solidarity and a peaceful outcome to the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. The hostages were eventually released later that day, January 15, 2022.

As the hostage situation at a synagogue near Fort Worth, Texas, continued into Saturday night, Jewish leaders shared calls for solidarity and prayers for the hostages and their community.

​A man took four people hostage in Colleyville’s Congregation Beth Israel late Saturday morning, professing to be the brother of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a facility near the synagogue. Siddiqui, a relative by marriage of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, a primary organizer of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is serving time for an attempt on the lives of American military personnel after her 2008 arrest in Afghanistan on suspicion of planning attacks in New York.

Just after 7:30 Eastern time, one of the hostages was released, uninjured. Texas governor Greg Abbott announced just after 10:30 that the other three, including the synagogue’s rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, had been successfully rescued and were safe.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson shared that the city was taking extra precautions to secure Jewish sites in the area. While the man, who was reportedly armed, is believed to have made bomb threats, Michael Masters, director of the Secure Community Network — which offers security consultations to Jewish organizations — said his team had not found credible threats to other synagogues.

Jewish organizations and leaders in Texas, as well as across the country and world, shared on social media that they were monitoring the situation and praying for those within the synagogue. But as the country awaited a resolution to the ongoing situation, many abstained from offering further comments.

Elected officials, including Jewish senator Jacky Rosen and Jewish representatives Jerry Nadler, Jamie Raskin, Lee Zeldin and Josh Gottheimer, weighed in as well.

Some drew a connection between the situation and other recent antisemitic attacks on Jewish communal spaces, especially the 2018 Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, Pa.

​And some remembered that Cytron-Walker had himself shared powerful words after the tragedy at the Tree of Life.

Journalist Lauren Zakalik, who reported on a memorial service Congregation Beth Israel held for the 11 victims of the massacre, particularly remembered Cytron-Walker’s perspective on the long impact of such tragedies: “Jewish tradition tells us that when we see tragedy, we come together,” he told her.

And a Facebook post that Cytron-Walker published after that event also began to circulate, shared by organizations like Bend the Arc.

​“When it comes to hatred and violence,” he wrote, “we all must stand together.”

The idea of presenting “opposing views” with the Holocaust would be mortifying if the concept behind it weren’t so mind-boggling. The thought of such a ridiculous notion leaves me shocked, numb.

That a top educator in a School District in the Dallas-Fort Worth area would use the Holocaust as an example of desired balance in presenting history-relating racism reveals vast deficiencies in understanding, much less education.

What began as a debate over legislation addressing “critical race theory” ended with a bizarre comparison delivered before a stunned school board audience, prompting a swift and immediate apology from the superintendent of the Carroll Independent School District.

One of many teaching moments in this chapter of history is that revisionism is clearly becoming the embarrassing subplot to the torment that’s ripping apart the country. Are school districts across the most advanced country in the world really going to allow what should have been an Age of Re-enlightenment to become the Age of Reimagining Everything? Are generations of history, literature — not to mention our sanity — about to be gone with the wind?

“Opposing views” of the Holocaust are nothing but Holocaust denial. Such behavior is nothing new in today’s world of hate. In fact, this event only gains credence when Holocaust museums, commissions, and education diminish their importance by allowing the unvarnished history to be portrayed as just another genocide or just another violation of human rights. Now, anyone who can’t understand the reality of the Holocaust either believes people should still hail Hitler or that the earth is still flat. Two decades into the 21st century, is this the new direction of education?

Educators wishing to teach racism need to realize that too many people believe anti-Semitism began with Hitler and in Nazi Germany. In truth — the unequivocal variety — the history of anti-Semitism goes back thousands of years with Jews as slaves, inhabitants in ghettos, or scapegoats by empires over more than 100 generations. And despite such oppression, the Jewish people have not only survived but made a positive impact in many societies. In the face of great achievements, the Jewish people also understand that our values oblige us to dedicate ourselves to the freedom of others.

Today, Holocaust denial has a new partner — the denial of Israel as the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. The history of Israel dates back thousands of years. The legal boundaries of Israel are more in evidence than in dispute, and any disputed territory is subject to negotiation. To that end, “Palestine” will exist when the Palestinians accept history, own up to the consequences of their own actions, and develop compromises within their ranks.

In truth, we have Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and an immense evil cast who not only participated in hatching, planning, and implementing the Final Solution, but meticulously and proudly documented the heinous crimes for the world to see. The irrefutable evidence is substantiated by voluminous eyewitness accounts of prosecuted war criminals, rescuers, physical evidence from labor and death camps; cans of Cyklon B, hair, bones, ashes, testimonies from survivors, miles of film, books.

And yet, the Holocaust deniers demand telling of their side of the story, their truth, the imagined “opposing views,” which basically is a collection of demonizing libels that don’t deserve repeating. Poland, which succumbed to the Nazis and was complicit in many ways to the brutality at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 300,000 Poles also were victims, wants to criminalize tying Poland to its history of death to millions of Jews and others.

There’s no running away from history, particularly the evil of this human experience. Diminishing the truth is shameful. Back in Texas, with apologies rendered and, of course, the “opposing views” argument ascribed to either confusion or misapplication of a law that aims to keep people from spinning history, the incident undoubtedly will evaporate into the “wokesphere.”

Meanwhile, Jews continue to be targeted as scapegoats for the blood libels of the past or for no other reason beyond their religious identity. Make no mistake, there are many good people who respect the diverse culture and practices of the Jewish people. And for those who prefer not to do so, well, they will continue trying to reinvent the wheel, which remains, by all accounts, the same shape as the earth.

​Paramedics and EMTs with MedStar in Fort Worth got a special dinner Wednesday from Jewish service organization B’nai B’rith, the group’s way of showing their thanks.

“They worked through this pandemic and most recently through the winter storms and we wanted to show our thanks for that,” said Dan Sturman, vice president of the local B’nai B’rith chapter.

MedStar is the fourth group of frontline workers to receive this thanks since last year. Before COVID-19 found its way to Texas, B’nai B’rith served food to the firefighters at Fire Station 26 on Hulen Street and to the police at south division. Since COVID hit, the group delivered food to COVID ICU nurses and, now, MedStar.

​This time, the service group brought meals for 70 paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers and other MedStar employees. Each meal came in a bag with a Jason’s Deli box lunch and a frozen chicken dinner, homemade with fried chicken, mashed potatoes and asparagus., for later.

Paramedic George Webster said the recognition was special to him because a lot of times it seems that MedStar’s work goes unnoticed.

​“Of course we don’t do this for recognition, but it is nice to see and to know that our work makes a difference,” Webster said.

Alex Nason, president of the local B’nai B’rith chapter, said he got the idea to bring food to MedStar when they responded to a call from his house.

Nason’s wife, Sophia Nason, was feeling unwell but didn’t want to go to the hospital. When Alex Nason called MedStar, they came and sat with Sophia Nason, monitoring her condition, until she was feeling better.

But Nason said they deserved the recognition for all the work they’ve done in the past year, and that’s one of the things his organization exists for.

“We are a bunch of people who want to make a difference in the community,” Nason said. “Sometimes that’s in the Jewish community and sometimes that’s just in the community as a whole.”

​The event was also attended by Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes and City Councilmember Brian Byrd.

Many companies and groups across the nation are rushing to provide aid to Texans after last week's winter storm left millions without power, food, water and access to other resources.

The range of establishments providing donation efforts is large, and the list of helping hands continues to grow.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to Twitter last week and, through Sunday, had raised more than $5 million for relief in Texas. The money raised is going to 12 organizations including the Food Bank of West Central Texas, Central Texas Food Bank, Southeast Texas Food Bank, Feeding Texas, The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, South Texas Food Bank, Corazon Ministries, Houston Food Bank, Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, ECHO (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition), North Texas Food Bank, and Family Eldercare.

Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks donate $1.25 million to the Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund and other sources, such as the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Our Calling, Austin Street Shelter, the Stewpot, the Family Place, Genesis Women’s Shelter, the Wilkinson Center, Housing Crisis Center, Voice of Hope, and 14 YMCA locations. Players such as Dwight Powell, Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Maxi Kleber, etc., owner Mark Cuban, and CEO Cynt Marshall all chipped in to provide for the city. Committee members and The Dallas Foundation have begun discussions for distributing the money to help as many residents in need as possible, city officials said.

Tyson Foods
One million meals, bottled water, and other supplies will be donated by Tyson foods for its' employees and other Texans impacted by the recent storm. The 10 Texas cities receiving the donation are Amarillo, Carthage, Center, Dallas, Haltom City, Houston, North Richland Hills, Seguin, Sherman, and Vernon. The food company said it will contact local authorities to coordinate distribution details.

Chobani
Chobani donated $100,000 to Operation Homefront to support Texan military families impacted by the dangerously cold weather last week. The funds come from Chobani's Hero Batch greek yogurt and are given to the national nonprofit's Critical Financial Assistance program. The program provides assistance with home repair, food insecurity, rent and mortgage payments, auto repairs, and other critical family needs. The company has also opted to give 100,000 cups of greek yogurt to Tarrant Area Food Bank, after delivering water to Fort Worth residents over the weekend.

CarParts.com
CarParts.com is donating 1% of revenue generated through their website from Monday, Feb. 22, through the end of February, having already advanced $100k for immediate relief to Texans in need.

Lowe's
With the help of Lowe's volunteers, the home repair store is giving away 500 buckets stuffed with flashlights, trash bags, DampRid moisture absorber and other items at two stores in DFW (while supplies last), one in Arlington and one in Dallas. The buckets can be picked up at the Lowe's along Arbrook Boulevard, facing Interstate 20, in South Arlington and at the store on 8520 S. Hampton Road in Dallas beginning Monday morning. In addition, the home repair store will offer repair tips for repairing burst pipes, gutters, and damaged lawns and can make recommendations for professional help in removing wet carpet and drywall, tarping and replacing damaged roofs, and replacing water heaters and HVAC systems.

Inspected.com
The city of Garland is partnering with Inspected.com, a company that offers remote virtual inspections with city officials via their phones, to pair residents with a professional who can walk them through repairs. "For some homeowners in Texas it's a leaky valve or their pipes have burst from the cold weather," Founder of Inspected.com Anthony Perera said. "Through Inspected.com, they are given access to stay in their homes and fix it themselves with the knowledge of professionals talking to them through the app via video." In addition, Garland residents will be able to video chat with city officials for any home concerns they may have. 

Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company donated 100 pallets of bottled water to the city of Waco -- that was enough water to fill six tractor-trailers.
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​B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith will be accepting donations from the public and will match up to $10,000 from their Disaster and Emergency Relief Fund to help Texans attempting to recover after the weather. The company will assess the needs of different communities in the state and will work with partners to provide solutions. Donors can give through the B'nai B'rith website or by calling 800-573-9057.

A donation of COVID-19 relief kits will help local organizations combat coronavirus. Alex Nason, B’nai B’rith community coordinator and president of B’nai B’rith in the Texarkoma Region, presented local organizations with COVID-19 relief kits provided by B’nai B’rith International.

Jewish Family Services of Tarrant County, the Tarrant County Molly and Max Barnett B’nai B’rith Apartments, and Strengthening After-School Programs through Advocacy, Resources and Collaboration (SPARC) received kits containing a cloth face mask and travel-sized hand sanitizer, both imprinted with the B’nai B’rith logo.

These kits, made possible by B’nai B’rith International, will help ensure that recipients stay safe during the pandemic.

Jewish Family Services of Tarrant County, a program that provides transportation for seniors to bring them together for activities and meals, received 25 kits. Hedy Collins, senior program director, accepted the kits from Nason.

The Tarrant County Molly and Max Barnett B’nai B’rith Apartments house 95 low-income seniors. Each resident received a COVID kit, accepted on behalf of the residents by Board President Dan Sturman and Property Manager Tiffany Bell.

SPARC provides after-school programming and training to serve all Fort Worth schools. Tobi Jackson, executive director of SPARC and first vice president of the Fort Worth Independent School District board of trustees, accepted the kits.

“Seeing the appreciation from the kit recipients who are familiar with B’nai B’rith International was very nice,” Nason said. “And hearing how surprised and appreciative people were who didn’t know about B’nai B’rith International and its disaster relief doings was priceless. It made me very proud to be a part of B’nai B’rith.”

These donations are some of many made as part of B’nai B’rith’s project to provide 3,000 COVID-19 relief kits to communities around the United States. B’nai B’rith community coordinators around the country are donating kits on behalf of B’nai B’rith to local agencies dedicated to serving their community.

“Every community in America is facing the challenge of responding to the needs of vulnerable populations. We want to be part of the solution and help make sure everyone stays safe,” said Rebecca Saltzman, senior vice president and chair of the B’nai B’rith Disaster and Emergency Relief Committee.

As the U.S. experiences a high level of transmission of the virus, this project will help people follow the CDC recommendation for the “consistent and correct” use of face masks, as well as guidance to use hand sanitizer when soap and water are not readily available.  Since it began in March 2020, the B’nai B’rith COVID-19 relief campaign has supported projects around the world to help keep people safe and alleviate the effects of the pandemic.

The B’nai B’rith Disaster and Emergency Relief Fund has responded to man-made and natural disasters around the world since 1865.