Effective response to rising security threats
The Talmudic phrase “Kol Yisreal Arevim Zeh beZeh " (All Jews are responsible for one another), encapsulates the raison d’être of the WJC in all spheres of life, including Jewish communal security. Since its foundation in 1936, long before the establishment of its Global Jewish Security Department, the WJC has been at the forefront of fighting for the rights of Jews and Jewish communities around the world.
Over the past ten years, terrorist, antisemitic and other types of security incidents around the globe are on the rise and have become a part of every-day life in almost every corner of the world. Jewish communities have not been spared and were often the focus of such attacks, and seen as an easy, soft target by perpetrators. Security incidents and attacks on Jews and Jewish installations were reported around the globe: in France and Belgium, Denmark and Germany, Ukraine and Russia, Poland and Hungary, but also places such as Australia, India or Uruguay. Jews around the world -- in general -- feel more vulnerable and less safe than they did just 15 or 20 years ago. These threats are not only a real and imminent danger to the lives and physical well-being of Jews, they also endanger the ability of Jewish communities to maintain their everyday safe and proud way of life.
With this in mind and in the spirit of the WJC’s primary mission of Jewish global unity, the World Jewish Congress Global Jewish Security Department (SD) began its operations on April 1, 2015 at the request of Jewish communities around the world in order to respond to these constantly growing threats.
Over the past 3.5 years, the WJC adopted a holistic approach towards communal security by developing an effective multi-layered methodology, implemented hand in hand with the communities, and comprised of: Research and analysis of the threats, engaging with the local authorities and security services to better protect the Jewish communities in their countries, enhancing the physical infrastructure of communal institutions, and training corps of local volunteers to organize and respond effectively to a myriad of crises.
During this short period WJC conducted more than than 150 Political Advocacy meetings have been conducted in 52 countries to address communities’ security, completed 74 Security Physical Infrastructure projects in 43 communities, held over 200 Crisis Management trainings in 30 countries, and released over 200 Open Source Information reports relating to specific threats aimed at 14 different Jewish communities.
This approach, the intensive activity and the ever-improving cooperation with the communities are creating an unprecedented change in the way communities perceive their responsibility, while significantly upgrading their capabilities, and essentially, their overall security.
