Security ramped up after Tolouse school attack
MELBOURNE’S Jewish schools have stepped up their security awareness in the wake of Monday’s attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, which claimed the lives of four people, three of them children.
MELBOURNE’S Jewish schools have stepped up their security awareness in the wake of Monday’s attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, which claimed the lives of four people, three of them children.
Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, his two sons Aryeh, 3, and Gavriel Yissacher, 6, and the daughter of the school’s principal, Miriam Montenago, 10, were killed when a gunman on a motor scooter opened fire at students and teachers of the Ozar Hatorah school.
Five others were wounded, including a 17-year-old boy who subsequently underwent surgery at a local hospital. The assailant, who has also allegedly killed three French paratroopers with a north African background, is still at large.
Mount Scopus Memorial College principal Rabbi James Kennard said the school has ramped up its security arrangements in response to the French attack. “Naturally we are always vigilant, but we have increased our level of security for the time being.”
A spokesperson for Leibler Yavneh College said school authorities have urged staff and students to be vigilant. “We’re keeping an eye on events around us to ensure our security is appropriate and matches the information we’ve received. We’re asking students not to gather in groups near the school, to be aware, and keep themselves informed.”
At Bialik College, school authorities have been in contact with the Community Security Group (CSG) and their own security consultants, have communicated with parents, and have increased awareness and alertness, a spokesperson said.
The Australian Council of Jewish Schools (ACJS), meanwhile, issued a statement that it is horrified by the shocking murders of innocent children. “This is not an insignificant incident, nor remote, and guards and staff at all schools have been alerted. We are in close contact with the CSG and the situation is being closely monitored. CSG has contacted guarding companies and informed them of the situation, and guards have been briefed either prior to their shift this [Tuesday] morning or as soon as possible thereafter. CSG, on our behalf and in consultation with the ACJS or the schools directly, have been liaising with police.”
The ACJS said schools have spent millions of dollars on security and continue to do so.
“The security measures we have in place, including guards, staff and parent security training, cameras, bollards, access control and security fencing, are in themselves a deterrent to this type of attack.
“It also makes the need for security funding from the Australian government for our schools even more necessary. Our schools will be applying for further infrastructure upgrades under the new round of Secure Schools funding which has recently opened,” the statement said.
CSG Victoria executive director Simon Glynn said the tragedy shows communal facilities worldwide are vulnerable to attack.
“At the present time, we have not raised the alert level, the Australian Jewish community remains at level four – high. CSG will continue to monitor the situation, and remain in close contact with school principals and community leadership throughout Victoria.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has written to the principal of Ozar Hatorah, expressing the Australian Jewish community’s “shock and disgust on learning of yesterday’s heinous murders of three innocent Jewish children and one of their teachers”.
ECAJ president Dr Danny Lamm and executive director Peter Wertheim said: “There can be little doubt that the victims were targeted because they were Jewish, and for no other reason. That such a disgraceful crime should occur in Europe, with its dark history of genocide never far below the surface, demonstrates what a poisonous and lethal force anti-Semitism continues to be.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’s director of international affairs Jeremy Jones described the killings as “totally abhorrent”. But he welcomed the condemnation of the shootings “by all political and religious leaders”.
“There were Jews, Christians, Muslims and others marching together in Paris and we would like to see, wherever there is an incident of attacks on Jews or on anybody, all men and women of goodwill unite to show they’re opposed to it,” he said.
PETER KOHN
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