JewishColumbus Board Chair Jonathan Feibel said in a statement the group is working to increase security at central Ohio Jewish organizations and places of worship.
Feibel addressed the attack Thursday on a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan in a statement issued Friday to the Jewish community. Feibel wrote that he was saddened and horrified at the attack on Temple Israel in the Detroit suburb.
The man who attacked the place of worship was killed by security guards after he rammed a vehicle into the synagogue and exchanged fire with the guards. Michigan leaders and the FBI are calling it a targeted attack on the Jewish community.
Feibel said the group has increased armed security at every synagogue and Jewish agency in the area. These groups and temples have had to increase security in recent years due to a rise in antisemitism.
"Because of what we have built together, we did not meet this moment with panic. We met it with preparedness. Real protection, made possible by real investment," Feibel said.
Feibel said moments like this remind the community that threats facing the Jewish community are real as Israel and the United States continue to wage war on Iran.
The Associated Press reports the attacker, a naturalized U.S. citizen, lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week.
