Opposition leader Isaac Herzog warned Monday night that Israel should prepare itself for the possibility that Jews may flee to the Jewish State to escape anti-Semitism in Western nations.
“I call on the government to urgently prepare and draw up a national emergency plan for the possibility of waves of immigration of our Jewish brothers to Israel,” Herzog said at a meeting of the Zionist Union Knesset faction which he leads.
Herzog expressed shock and strongly condemned the outbreak of anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place over the last several months in the United States, France and other Western nations.
However, he said he remains “convinced that the American government would do everything it can to harshly and aggressively eradicate this phenomenon.”
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in response to a question from a journalist at the regular daily news briefing on Monday, “With respect to some of the activity that we’ve seen at Jewish cemeteries in particular… I think we have to work with law enforcement at the local and state level.
“But I think as has been pointed out multiple times, I think one of the things that we can do is speak from this podium in particular and other places to make sure that every American understands what our values are, and that that kind of behavior and activity is wrong, and won’t be tolerated, and the highest levels of government denounce it.”
Earlier in the briefing Spicer read out a long statement by U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he condemned the vandalism at two Jewish cemeteries within the past week, and at least 90 bomb threats that have been called into Jewish Community Centers and Jewish Day Schools since January 1. In the statement, he said he “continues to condemn these and any other form of anti-Semitic and hateful acts in the strongest terms.”
Meanwhile, the New York-based Anti-Defamation League issued a security advisory late Monday in response to the latest bomb threats: at least 21 threats were called in to JCCs and Jewish Day Schools in 12 states across the country, including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.
Among the security procedures recommended by the organization was a review of the ‘Bomb Threat Guidance’ manual provided by the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.