American Jews getting weapons, security training, as antisemitism soars

Jews are becoming more proactive about their security, says a group that trains communities in self-defense.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

American Jews are highly interested in acquiring security training and even weapons to protect themselves as antisemitism soars in the country, Fox News reported Wednesday.

Community Security Service (CSS) is an American NPO that provides security to the Jewish community in the United States, primarily through trained community volunteers, and has seen a “massive increase in demand” due to the heightened threat, CEO Richard Priem told the media channel.

“We’ve now had to prepare our teams on how to deal with demonstrators, both demonstrators that are peaceful — and how do we de-escalate to make sure that none of the congregants or none of the Jewish participants of an event get drawn into a kind of confrontation — but also demonstrations that are directly harassing and intimidating Jews, and even demonstrations that result in assaults and violent attacks on Jewish community members,” he said.

The Jews are stepping up, Priem said, to confront the problem.

“In response to all this rising antisemitism in response to Oct. 7,”  he noted, “we are seeing more Jewish people standing up for themselves, standing up for their institutions and saying, ‘I want to volunteer so that my kids could keep going to a Jewish summer camp or our kids can keep going to our services without being afraid, without having to keep them in our home, because we are worried about security.'”

Security training isn’t enough for some Jews, however.

A non-lethal launcher made by Byrna Technologies has become a popular item, according to the company’s chief revenue and marketing officer, Luan Pham.

He told Fox Digital that a Jewish leader from a temple in Los Angeles came to buy several launchers after Hamas’ October 7 invasion, which set off the ongoing war and the major antisemitic demonstrations and physical assaults on Jews throughout the country that have not abated even 11 months later.

“After that first call, following Oct. 7…the word got out, and then they all got together as a community and made a huge six-figure order so that, you know, they can defend themselves in the right way… while mitigating the risks,” he said.

The Byrna LE looks like a handgun but fires .68 caliber polymer rounds using compressed CO2 cylinders and deliver a painful blow as they travel at up to 340 feet per second.

The company also sells chemical-irritant rounds that upon impact create a six-foot radius cloud that makes the assailants’ skin feel like its on fire for about half an hour, effectively deterring their attack.

The weapon has no recoil, making it easy to use, and a range of 60 feet, which means that self-defense can be initiated from a safer distance.

Antisemitism shot up some 400% throughout the U.S. in the weeks following October 7 according to the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks these numbers. And in the first half of 2024, in New York City alone, police statistics show that a whopping 200 of 329 hate crimes targeted Jews, a whopping 60%, when the Jewish community is only some 10% of the state’s population.