Local Holocaust survivors feared the worst, area rabbis felt relief and Muslim organizations across the city and country switched to damage control mode after authorities thwarted attacks planned by four men – reportedly all Muslim – at a pair of Bronx synagogues and an upstate Air National Guard base.
James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all from Newburgh, New York, allegedly obtained explosive devices with the help of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant and plotted attacks over the course of several months. Their actions culminated in their arrest on the evening of May 20 after a concerted effort between the New York Police Department (NYPD), the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Prior to their arrest, the men had planted remote-control-operated bombs in vehicles outside the Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center and had acquired a Stinger surface-to-air missile that they planned to use to shoot down a military aircraft near a Newburgh Air National Guard base.
The attempt struck right at the core of a city still devastated from the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a people that are no strangers to persecution. But the averted tragedy also sent shudders through the Muslim community, as organizations like the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) “strongly and unequivocally” condemned the act.
MANA and other Muslim alliances were quick to note that terrorist attacks are prohibited in Islam.
The defendants’ actions – whether in keeping with Islam or not – amounted to a rude awakening for many in Queens, home to sizable Jewish and other minority communities, even if that awakening was tempered with relief.
“I am very relieved and I have a lot of confidence in the NYPD and the FBI…I am also aware of the dangers that we’re in,” said Rabbi Avrohom Richter of Chabad of Howard Beach.
Richter said his congregation and others need to take more precautions and be more observant in the wake of what could have been a catastrophe.
“We’re trying to look out for things that we would normally pass by, turn the head to – a suspicious car or something like that. It’s more important or more relevant now,” he said. “It’s something that is worthwhile in calling the police and letting them know.”
City Councilmember Peter Vallone, Chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee, argued that the NYPD needs more resources, noting that under the department’s current structure, counter terror manpower is directed away from crime fighting.
The May 20 arrests, Vallone said, “underscored the need for police to fight both crime and fight terrorism.”
But Police Officer Kenneth Zorn of the 106th Precinct’s Community Affairs division – with whom Rabbi Richter is in regular contact – said his precinct’s captain has been able to “shuffle some of the resources” to ensure that officers can continue “constantly watching the religious institutions in our area.”
He explained that the 106th Precinct instituted an additional House of Worship (HOW) patrol order after the bombing attempt in the Bronx, adding, “If it makes them feel better let’s get a few more cops out there.”
Zorn noted that the 106th is the most diverse precinct in the United States.
“The [attempted] bombing is just downright despicable and it affects all the communities,” he said.
In fact, area Muslims are concerned about the repercussions their community might endure due to the defendants’ reported ties to Islam.
“A lot of our community members are worried about the net of suspicion being thrown over the whole community, but a lot of us have been living with this anxiety for eight years now,” since 9/11, explained Adem Carroll, the executive director of the Muslim Consultative Network, a coalition of New York-based Muslim American organizations.
However, rather than scapegoating, Carroll said, funds should be allocated for education and the prevention of such acts.
“There are some Muslims, like others, who feel oppressed and marginalized,” he said. “That doesn’t excuse anything but it’s important to explain the problem,” he said, not simply in terms of criminality but in terms of alienation.
But that sort of logic does not mollify people like Cynthia Zalisky.
“We are taking this very seriously. We are very disturbed by it. It rattles security,” said Zalisky, the executive director of the Queens Jewish Community Council, a community action and communications group.
Zalisky added that she is confident in the NYPD’s abilities to thwart terrorism and said that amid increased police patrols, “we want to go about our business.”
For some synagogues, though, moving on means complete security overhauls like cameras to guard the premises.
“It’s a really attractive target, right on Queens Boulevard. It’s a huge center,” Romieo Daniel said of the Rego Park Jewish Center where he serves as President.
Daniel noted that video camera monitoring of his synagogue would not come cheap, and thus, would not be installed in the immediate future.
In the meantime, Daniel said his congregation is looking to the local police precinct and to Mumbai, India for security advice.
As the President of the Indian Jewish Congregation of USA, the attempted bombing was, for Daniel, a chilling reminder of the November 2008 terrorist attacks on a Jewish center and other targets that left more than 100 dead in Mumbai.
“You can see a pattern here or the beginnings of a pattern in which they’re trying to do what they’re doing in the Middle East,” Daniel said, pointing to the random attacks and fear that have long plagued Middle Eastern cities. “I have a feeling that this is going to continue, that’s it not going to stop here.”
Sadly, Daniel’s sentiment was echoed by the very people who escaped such persecution during World War II and sought refuge in New York.
“I got two calls from survivors,” said Arthur Flug, director of Queensborough Community College’s Holocaust Resource Center and Archives. “All they said was, ‘Again. It’s happening again.’”
