Hostage Situation at a Synagogue Near Fort Worth, Texas UPDATE

This afternoon a man took four people hostage during a Shabbat service at a synagogue near Fort Worth, Texas. Among the hostages is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville. One hostage has reportedly been released unharmed.

The assailant is reportedly the brother of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national turned al Qaeda operative serving an 86-year prison sentence at a federal facility in Fort Worth for the attempted murder of a U.S. soldier and an assault on other military and FBI personnel. However, this has not been confirmed as of this writing and the attorney of Siddiqui's brother claims he is not involved in the situation. The assailant, whatever his identity, is demanding the release of Siddiqui and is engaging in an act of terrorism to attain this objective.

The cold fact remains that going to a synagogue in this country can be a dangerous proposition for American Jews as the congregants of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and Congregation Chabbad in Poway, California found out and some of them paid with their lives. There are people who want Jews dead be they white supremacists or the sympathizers of al Qaeda terrorists. While there have been attacks on other houses of worship and institutions, no religious group is on the receiving end of more threats and acts of violence in this country than Jews. I don't know what kind of security arrangements were in place for Congregation Beth Israel, but as I can attest many synagogues in this country have airport style security screening with armed guards, have police guarding the facility during events or have physical barriers erected. 

At this point, we can only hope the assailant surrenders himself to authorities and the remaining hostages are released unharmed.

UPDATE: All hostages are safe after a hostage rescue team entered the synagogue. The assailant is dead but his identity has not been released. 

Although questions remain there will be time to address them. For the moment, the outcome was a good one and we can all sleep a little more easily.