TYLER, Texas — East Texas Rabbi Neal Katz said the terrorist organizaiton Hamas has a clear objective of seeking the destruction of Israel following the attack over the weekend.
"There’s no conversation here that is about peace, this is a group that has a clear objective, and so given the opportunity to cross the border and to cause the havoc that they’ve caused is their stated objective," said Katz, who leads Rabbi Congregation Beth El in Tyler.
Katz describes the latest strike in the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war. With this group targeting the Jewish and Israeli communities, United States law enforcement is preparing to make sure that hateful sentiment isn’t echoed in the states.
"I can tell you that there’s already a lot of movement in the law enforcement community across the United States right, this is as soon as the attacks were known to the public," said Dr. Alex del Carmen, associate dean at the school of criminology at Tarleton State University.
In Texas, police are preparing to back the Jewish community.
"We will be doing religious center checks throughout Harris County, and various areas where our synagogues are located. And we will be making contact with those organizations to let them know that we are here to support them," said Earl Dean of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Currently, Katz's daughter is in a high school program that travels to Israel for a semester. She left in August and was set to return in Decemeber but the conflict is causing the program to be cut short.
"And so my daughter was in Jerusalem, they were called into the bomb shelter, they went in and out seven times that morning. Later in the evening, they were able to get secure permission to go back to the campus at Tel Aviv which is about an hour away. The program is going to be shut down because a lot of the staff on the campus are being called up for reserves." Katz said.
Katz said the best way for anyone to help their Jewish friends and community members is to just be there for them. Call them, text them, see them – just let them know you care.