RICHMOND, Va. β In light of Sunday's terror attack in Australia, the Richmond-area Jewish community is asking for help in standing up to antisemitism.
Although it happened thousands of miles from Richmond, the attack on Australia's Bondi Beach personally touched members of the local Jewish community. A father and son are accused of opening fire and killing at least 15 people and injuring 40 others during a Hanukkah celebration.
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Father and son kill at least 15 people in attack on Hanukkah event in Australia
"We have members in our community who are directly tied to those injured. The Chabad rabbi who was killed was a classmate of our local rabbi here in town, Rabbi Yossel Kranz, who leads our Chabad. And we have a family member, the rabbi of Temple Beth-El, the rabbi emeritus. He had a relative, a family member who was injured in the attack, who had literally just moved to Australia two weeks ago to fight antisemitism on behalf of the Jewish community," said Daniel Staffenberg, CEO of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.
Richmond rabbi's family friend killed in Bondi Beach attack: 'It hits close to home'
Even if they did not know someone hurt or killed personally, Staffenberg says the Jewish population at large is hurting.
"Reach out to your Jewish friends and simply ask, 'Are you okay?' Because many of them are not," Staffenberg said.
After that, Staffenberg asks the greater Richmond community to speak up and speak out against antisemitism and to condemn what happened in Australia.
"Do not accept hate in any way or form, and don't be afraid to call it out if someone says it's okay because of what's happening overseas in the Middle East or, 'Oh well, the Jews are this, or x, or this, or that,' We have got to, as a community, call that out loudly and clearly, the othering of anybody is unacceptable," Staffenberg said.
Staffenberg says antisemitic incidents have increased dramatically over the past several years, and the Israel-Gaza conflict has led to even more antisemitic rhetoric.
"We're not attacking Russians here in the country or Ukrainians because of what's going on in Russia or Ukraine or the Sudan or anywhere else. It's just the Jews. It feels pretty double standard," Staffenberg said.
To ensure local Hanukkah celebrations can safely go on, Staffenberg says his group is helping to reinforce security.
"We will have to double down on security, police presence, metal detectors to protect the people that choose to come, which is deeply sad, and not the message we want to send, but unfortunately necessary," Staffenberg said.
Security was visible at the City Hall event, helping to keep everyone safe for this festival of lights.
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