The FBI are preparing to launch an investigation after a bullet was fired through the window of a Synagogue in Indiana.
Police were called to the Adath B’Nai Israel Temple in Evansville on Sunday morning after a shot was heard and a bullet was found by the Rabbi.
Rabbi Gary Mazo commented that “someone had to walk into a children’s playground, then look into a classroom and then fire some sort of weapon. It was to inflict damage, but I think more importantly, (the person) tried to inflict fear,…we’re in this climate now where acts of hate are happening everywhere.”
As early police reports suggest that a low-powered weapon fired the shot, Rabbi Mazo says that he believes the incident was no more than a “cowardly act by a bigot”, and not something of a larger or more sinister scale. However, this is still clearly an attempt to intimidate the Jewish community, which has around 120 families.
Rabbi Mazo noted that this was an attempt to frighten the community, saying “we’ll stand up to fear, we’ll stand up to hatred and we’ll stand together. We know this is not representative of our community. We know that we live in a community that supports each other”. Unfortunately, campaigns of intimidation, from bomb threats to graffiti and vandalism, and sadly the ever-present threat of serious violence, are now a part of daily life for Jewish communities across the world.
