A survivor of the Colleyville, Texas, hostage crisis returned to Howard County on June 4 to tell his story and deliver an important message to the Jewish community.
That message was to challenge antisemitism, wherever it rears its head. The messenger was Jeff Cohen, who was raised in Howard County before he moved to Texas, where he is now president of Congregation Beth Israel, the Colleyville synagogue that saw a hostage crisis in January 2022. Cohen sought to address how people think about and counter antisemitism.
Cohen spoke at the Jewish Federation of Howard County’s annual meeting, which was held at Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia on June 4.
During the talk, Cohen referenced the antisemitic comments that Malik Faisal Akram, the gunman who took Cohen and three other members of his synagogue hostage, made during the crisis.
“We have got to change the way we do things, because we’re all taught to be polite, every one of us. When we hear one of these [antisemitic] tropes, we grit our teeth, but we don’t say anything,” Cohen said, “That’s not acceptable anymore. The world has changed. We can’t do that. We need to stand up.”
When Akram decided to take the congregation hostage, he was operating on antisemitic tropes, which Cohen said he explained that day. These tropes are not new, and they are not unfamiliar to the Jewish community, Cohen added.
Akram said during the hostage crisis that he wanted to secure the release of Aafia Siddiqui, an alleged al-Qaeda agent who was imprisoned nearby, Cohen told the crowd of nearly 100 people.
“He said, ‘Gentlemen, I have nothing against you. You happen to be the closest synagogue to [the prison] and I need to free my sister. Gentlemen I have nothing against you, but we all know Jews control the media, Jews control the banks, Jews control the government,’” Cohen recalled the man saying.
Akram also said he wanted to talk to the chief rabbi of the United States, which, Cohen noted, is not a real position.
“When you hear those things, challenge them,” Cohen said, “The big thing that I am speaking against is the real danger of these tropes. The danger of the trope is that there are people who will believe it, and they will internalize it and that will get them to do something like this or like the attack on the supermarket in Buffalo.”
Since 1979, the Anti-Defamation League has been tracking incidents of antisemitism in the United States. Last year, in 2022, the ADL tabulated 3,697 antisemitic incidents — a 36% increase from the previous year, and the third time in the last five years that the year-end total has been a record.
The ten-hour standoff between Akram and law enforcement left the synagogue with broken doors, broken windows and bullet holes. Since then, the physical damage has been repaired, including new locks, which Cohen said provide increased security.
Despite the serious situation, there were moments of levity and hope, which persist in Cohen’s memory. Shane Woodward, one of the hostages, was in the process of converting to Judaism. During the standoff between Akram and law enforcement, Woodward turned to the rabbi and said, “I’m still converting,” according to Cohen.
When Cohen spoke, he wore a small blue square pin on the jacket of his suit. The blue square, Cohen explained, is to recognize and put the issue of antisemitism out front.
“It’s to say, ‘this is a problem’ and it’s something people need to look at. It’s not acceptable anymore,” Cohen said.
During Cohen’s talk, he asked the audience to close their eyes. He then asked them to point to the two exits. Few could, and that, Cohen said, was a problem.
“I want people to know how important the training is and to always know where your exits are,” Cohen said.
In addition to Cohen’s talk, the annual meeting also recognized the growth and accomplishments of the Jewish Federation of Howard County and elected officers and directors. This included recognizing JFHC’s antisemitism reporting program, which Joel Frankel, JFHC’s executive director, said receives an average of one report every two weeks.
The program, Frankel said, has led to antisemitic incidents being cataloged and addressed at places of work, apartments and most commonly, schools.
To combat these antisemitic incidents in schools the JFHC has developed a close relationship with school administration to help school systems understand what it means when something happens, so they’re better equipped to train their teachers to handle such incidents, according to Frankel.
“When you think about combating antisemitism, it’s important to understand that if Jews could solve antisemitism, we would. We need alliances and we need to build relationships. That begins with sharing our living experiences as Jews,” Frankel said.
