North Texas Jewish Community Reacts To Threat
Friday Shabbat services went on as scheduled at Temple Emanu-El in North Dallas, just hours after the national Anti-Defamation League sent out warnings to synagogues across the country.
The warnings came after President Barack Obama confirmed that two packages bound for synagogues in the Chicago area were potentially deadly.
"An initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material," the president said in televised remarks.
Mark Briskman is the director of the North Texas office of the Anti-Defamation League and says security alerts were e-mailed this afternoon to local Jewish centers and synagogues. The alerts warned of suspicious packages from overseas.
"If there's no return address or there's an odor to it, or there's an oily feel to the outside wrapping or they don't know who's sending it, then the thing to do is obviously not to touch it. Isolate it and then remove people from the area and call 911."
Briskman says threats like these are made from time to time and a local security plan is always in place, ready to go.
