NYPD Secures Synagogues Against Retaliation

The New York Police Department has put together a response plan that includes deploying extra officers, including heavily armed Hercules Teams, at synagogues, Jewish community centers and Israel diplomatic offices, out of concern that Muslim extremists might retaliate if Israel should attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Similar precautions were taken last year after Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in Damascus, for which the Lebanese terrorists blamed Israel.

“Just in case there was some kind of retaliation in New York, we had an operational plan that was implemented within hours of knowing he was hit,” Mitch Silber, a top NYPD intelligence analyst, said Friday at a briefing about security measures for the Jewish holiday of Passover at the largest Jewish population outside Israel.

There have been no specific threats reported against the city for the weeklong holiday which starts at sundown Wednesday, but Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said: More than seven years after 9/11 “we know that counterterrorism is now a permanent part of our mission.”

Several months earlier, two Iranian citizens were questioned while taking video images of the subway tracks. The pair claimed diplomatic immunity and were never charged.

via DEBKAfile – NYPD secures synagogues against Muslim retaliation should Israeli attack Iran.