Columbia synagogue among hundreds targeted with ‘swatting’ attacks
Columbia, Mo (KMIZ)
Columbia's Congregation Beth Shalom was one of about 200 Jewish organizations subjected to "swatting" attacks over the weekend, leaders say.
Rabbi Matt Derrenbacher and President Tim Parshall wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that the synagogue received a bomb threat via email and called the Columbia Police Department.
“We received the email around 8 a.m. on Sunday and it went to a list of local synagogues,” Derrenbacher told ABC 17 News. “I think what happened was, whoever it was who sent the email, just looked up all the synagogues in St. Louis, Columbia and things like that.”
Officers swept the synagogue and secured the grounds, they wrote. The threat wasn't credible.
Derrenbacher said he is grateful to the police department for acting so quickly.
“I’m very very grateful to them for their quick response and for how seriously they took it, Darrenbacher said. “They did a sweep of both of our buildings.”
Swatting occurs when someone makes a prank call or message to draw a surprise emergency response to an address. Synagogues are still taking every threat seriously.
“We take every swatting email seriously. I mean, if it’s a call, if it’s an email, especially since it was early in the morning and no one had been in the synagogue overnight," Darrenbacher said.
The Facebook post highlighted that the fake threat "comes on the heels of Hanukkah."
Despite the recent rise of reported antisemitism across the country, Darrenbacher said the adversity has brought the congregation together because they are the only community-based synagogue in the city.
“In the face of rising antisemitism, we won’t back down from our Jewish values, from living proudly as Jews and spreading our love and our life, building interfaith relationships, participating in the wider Columbia community and we are not ashamed of who we are as Jews,” Darrenbacher said. “We are very proud to be Jewish. We are very proud to live Jewish lives. I’m proud of the work we are doing in our community so we won’t back down.”
The synagogue is working to increase security, leaders wrote. But Darrenbacher did not want to get into specifics on what the security measures were.
"That’s something that we have been working on especially since October 7 we have been ramping up security and coming up with new ways to help our community feel safe,” he said.
More than 200 incidents were reported over the weekend, according to the Secure Community Network, which tracks threats against Jewish communities. Bomb threats and swatting incidents made against Jewish institutions jumped 541% this year, the group says.
Darrenbacher added that the synagogue's board will help find funding for the security updates.
“We have a synagogue board and they are in charge of creating committees and sub-committees. So there's a committee that will take care of helping come up with proposals, look for grants and funding to maintain the level of funding that we need,” Darrenbacher said.
Darrenbacher added that, overall, the Columbia community has been supportive in the face of antisemitism.
“I and a lot of members have received messages of support and just sort of condolence and like ‘Hey, I’m really sorry this is happening I didn’t think something like that would happen here,’” Darrenbacher said.
“We are taking steps to make sure the community feels safe and everyone that comes to the synagogue too. Whether Jewish, Jewish adjacent or a member of the community that just wants to spend some time with us or get to know us, everyone who comes to our physical space feels welcomed, feels safe, feels accepted, Darrenbacher said. “Part of that is working with the police department and part of that is just updating our facilities.”
ABC 17 News reached out to the Columbia Police Department.
