(Jewish Group) Top US security officials to US Jews: Colleyville was a 'terrorist attack on Jews"

Top US security officials to US Jews: Colleyville was a ‘terrorist attack on Jewish community’

Top United States security officials told Jewish Americans on a pre-Shabbat call that the attack last Saturday in Colleyville, Texas, was a “terrorist attack on the Jewish community” and that authorities are continuing to investigate how the British Islamist who held a rabbi and three congregants hostage got into the country.

The webinar Friday at noon, organized by the White House, drew at least 5,000 viewers, Chanan Weissman, the White House Jewish liaison, said at its outset. It was designed in part to reassure Jews that they could attend services this Shabbat. Among those speaking was the Temple Beth Israel rabbi held hostage during the 11-hour crisis, Charlie Cytron-Walker.

It also was clearly aimed at rolling back the impression conveyed in the immediate aftermath of the attack by an FBI official that authorities were not treating this as an antisemitic attack.

“While there is still a lot of unknown details, we are committed to thoroughly investigating Saturday’s attack,” said Jill Sanborn, the executive assistant director of the national security branch of the FBI. “Let me be clear: The FBI is and has been treating Saturday’s events as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.”

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