You may not be interested in the Jihad, but the Jihad is very much interested in you. And it's coming... wherever you are.
The market is a couple minutes’ walk down Elmora Avenue from First American Fried Chicken, the fast food restaurant run by Rahami’s family. Rahami stopped by a couple times, employees told Yaakov Weiss, who manages the market and works at the adjacent kosher restaurant, Avenue Grill and Sushi. Another employee recognized him from the picture in the news.
Members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Elizabeth, which has four Orthodox synagogues, were shaken but not surprised by the attacks. And while some said the bombings make the case for limiting the number of Muslim refugees entering the United States, they did not blame the local Muslim community for the attacks or suggest that their attitude toward their Muslim neighbors would change.
“Because it happened so close to home, I feel more vulnerable, just with a yeshiva and synagogue and another yeshiva and another school down the block,” said June Fooksman, whose 10-year-old daughter attends the Jewish Educational Center, a network of Orthodox day schools also located on Elmora Avenue. “I’m just going to believe that we’re going to be watched over. God’s gonna watch, and what is meant to be is going to be.”
Some Jewish residents suggested that the size of the Muslim community here, as well as in nearby North Jersey towns, means that another attack is not far off. Some compared the situation to the recurring waves of terror attacks in Israel.
“There’s plenty of them around here,” said Benayau Berez, 29, an Israeli employee at Avenue Grill and Sushi, referring to local Muslims. “It’s something you know is coming. You know how it is in Israel. It’s something that’s beginning. I don’t feel anything, but I see the panic that was here yesterday. I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Several people called for an increased police presence in Elizabeth. Berez and Weiss, who have children at the Jewish Educational Center, said that the school had not bolstered security enough. Weiss complained that New Jersey law did not allow him to carry a handgun.
Gabe, 22, the manager of Jerusalem Restaurant, a pizza place across from Avenue Grill and Sushi, said being a Jewish establishment on Elmora Avenue “puts a big red target on the window.”
That will only grow worse as the Islamic population continues to expand. Unfortunately too many Jewish groups have betrayed their communities by backing Muslim migration over community safety.
HIAS is the very worst offender, but a disturbing number of Jewish organizations, including the OU, fell into step. The synagogue they blow up with their irresponsible actions may very well be their own.